How does the fictional TV marriage influence a young adult\u27s own perceptions about marriage?

This study explored the relationship between television influence and the young adult‘s perception of marriage. The participants were 178, college-aged males and females (median age 20) from a large Midwestern university. How much television participants watched and the types of programs they watched were examined. Participants were asked where they got their information about marriage and how they thought marriage was displayed on TV. Two hypotheses were tested -- H1: Female students are more likely than male students to use TV programs for ideas on what marriage is really like; H2: Television has a greater influence over female students than male students with regard to their thoughts and behaviors about love and marriage. Neither hypothesis was supported. However, some gender differences were found. In terms of TV watching, males ranked the Sports, TV Movies, and Educational categories higher than females; females ranked the Drama and Reality categories higher than males. Females ranked their friends as a source on love and marriage higher than males ranked their friends as a source