Audiences’ Mediated Contact with Black Characters in Scripted Television and Support for Racialized Social Issues

ABSTRACT

Within scripted television programs, portrayals of Black characters have improved in both quantity and quality over the past few years. Research suggests that these various television characterizations may communicate an influential social standing of the group. Using a cross-sectional multicultural sample (N = 206) and applying mediated contact theories, the current research investigates audiences’ consumption of Black scripted television, parasocial relationships with Black television characters, and support for racialized social issues. The results suggest that audiences’ consumption of Black scripted television is positively related to favorable parasocial relationships with Black television characters. Positive parasocial relationships with Black television characters were associated with increased support for racialized social issues, particularly among viewers lacking interpersonal contact with Black individuals.

KEYWORDS:

• Black identity
• mediated contact
• parasocial relationships
• racialized social issues
• television

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In response to a reviewer comment, descriptive statistics for the Black scripted television consumption measure included 11 items (α = .81, M = 1.68, SD = .83; see Table 1). In line with previous research (e.g., Bond & Drogos, 2014), we amended a series of questions that resulted in the eleven-item Black scripted television consumption measure. The application of this measure was appropriate, as indicated by the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), as each item loaded above .600. Perse and Rubin’s (1989) social and parasocial intimacy scale (α = .91, M = 3.04, SD = 1.55) was used to assess participant’s parasocial relationship with the main characters of each television show (based on the previous measure). The social and parasocial intimacy measure is not commonly applied across multiple characters; however, this was a successful determinate to examine the proposed relationships (again, see Bond & Drogos, 2014 for previous application). To aid with full disclosure of the variables of interests, materials, including the Black scripted television consumption measure, social and parasocial intimacy measure, the full dataset and CFA results from both are available in an open-access depository: https://osf.io/yqah2/ and https://www.doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/YQAH2.

2. In response to a reviewer comment, H3 examined the relationship between viewer parasocial relationships with Black television characters and support for racialized social issues. We also posited that the association would be stronger for non-Black racial minorities than racial majority (i.e., White) individuals. Analyses for the proposed hypothesis were conducted with Black participants included and Black participants removed from the analysis. Due to the low number of Black participants (n = 8), the results remained unchanged.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David L. Stamps

David L. Stamps (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara) is an Assistant Professor in Information Design and Corporate Communication at Bentley University. His research focuses on the impact of interpersonal engagement and mass media imagery on underrepresented and vulnerable populations.

Jon Sahlman

Jon Sahlman (M.A., Western Kentucky University) is currently teaching and working in activism at various educational institutions. Their work is focused on interpersonal communication and its impact on sexual and racial underrepresented groups.