The role of the mass media among Muslim and white adolescents : a study of media use and gratification as it relates to cultural, social and psychological background

The present study examined the relationship between cultural, social and psychological background and the uses and gratifications associated with mass media among a sample of 90 Muslim adolescents and a matched group of 81 white British youths from a small, industrial Yorkshire town. The sample was aged between 11-16 years. The Muslim youths were shown to attend to both print and cinema more than white British youths, and the white youths demonstrated a higher use of television. Print media were associated with a wider range of functions among the Muslim youths compared to the white youths and television was shown to fill a wider range of functions among the white youths. An explanation resting on the cultural bias in the available content on these media, and previous associations with these was suggested as accounting for these differences. Four gratification areas were associated with both samples' use of television; these were: personal identity seeking, learning about life and the world, social utility and family integration, and diversion with associated areas of para-social interaction and escape. The area of learning about life and the world accounted for the major proportion of variance among the Muslim sample's endorsements; the diversion area accounted for the major proportion of variance among the white sample's endorsements. A fourfold classification scheme using parent/peer orientation and ethnic group evaluation was proposed in order to predict media use and television gratification seeking. Among both samples, personal identity seeking was shown to be associated with interpersonal and identity conflict. On the whole, the fourfold classification was shown to have greater predictive ability in describing the 'Muslim sample's media behaviours. The strongest correlates of gratifications associated with television viewing were examined in separate sample regression analyses. Muslim sample solutions suggested that the proportion of one's life spent in Britain, ethnic identification, relations with parents and peers, and attitudes towards religion were most important in explaining television gratification. Among white youths willingness to approach various groups of individuals and identification variables contributed most towards explaining television gratifications.