Talking about TV: Mother-Daughter Viewing and Discussion of an Entertainment Narrative about Teen Pregnancy

ABSTRACT

Narratives can bring about related discussions, which can influence narrative comprehension and future conversations – though little is known about how these processes interact. This study considers the interplay of exposure to a teen pregnancy narrative and subsequent mother-daughter discussion in an experiment with mothers and their teenage daughters. Participants watched a teen pregnancy narrative or a control narrative. After watching, they either participated in a mother-daughter discussion of sexual health or completed a distractor activity. The teen pregnancy narrative led to greater endorsement of teen pregnancy myths on the part of daughters – particularly when identifying with the pregnant teen character – but maternal discussion mitigated their effects on overall attitudes toward pregnancy prevention. Moreover, participants who viewed the teen pregnancy narrative were more satisfied with their discussions afterwards than were those who discussed sexual health without first watching the teen pregnancy narrative. This conversational satisfaction, in turn, led to more frequent mother-daughter conversations about sexuality in the following weeks.

Notes

1. Steps were taken to ensure that mothers and daughters would complete the questionnaires independently. Before each set of questions, instructions used text and a stop sign on the screen before participants could begin. When the mother began the pretest, the instructions said, “Mother, please ask your daughter to leave the room for a few minutes while you respond to the following questions privately.” After advancing to the next screen a follow up question asked who is currently in the room. If the participant responded with something other than “just the mother” they again saw the stop sign and text instructions. When it was time for the daughter to complete the pretest, the stop sign again appeared with text instructions, “We would now like to ask your daughter to fill out her survey. Would you please ask your daughter to return to the room so she can participate? The following questions are designed for your daughter to answer independently. Please leave the room for a few minutes while she responds to the questions. After your daughter’s survey, we will ask you both to watch a video together. Thank you!” Following this, the daughter’s survey again began with a question about who was in the room and, if necessary, repetition of the instructions. At each point in the experiment when a transition in participants was necessary, this procedure was used.

2. The full experimental design consisted of three conditions on this variable as mothers and daughters in the discussion condition were initially divided into two groups – one in which mothers were given a list of 5 tips for discussing sexuality with their daughters and one in which no such tips were provided. These suggestions included: “Tell your daughter it’s okay for her to speak honestly and that you won’t be mad at her.”; “Talk less and listen more.”; “Try not to lecture your daughter or criticize her feelings.”; “If you want to give your daughter advice, wait until she tells you how she feels or she asks for it.”; and “Your daughter will be more likely to accept your advice if you tell her why it will work.” These guidelines based on research examining parent-child discussions (Feng & Burleson, 2008; Feng & MacGeorge, 2010; Lefkowitz & Au, 2000). These different discussion conditions did not differ in terms of their impact on the dependent variables: Posttest myth endorsement F(1, 533) = .28, p = .60; Posttest pregnancy prevention attitudes F(1, 531) = .23, p = .13. Moreover, these two discussion conditions did not interact with video condition to affect the DVs: Posttest myth endorsement F(1, 533) = .05, p = .82; Posttest pregnancy prevention attitudes F(1, 531) = 1.28, p = .26. For parsimony, these two discussion conditions were combined in the present manuscript into one overall discussion condition.