Media and the Self-Esteem of African American Children: How Stereotypical and Nonexistent Portrayals of African Americans affect African American Children
While research has been done on the ties between media and the self-concept of African Americans in high school and college, previous research has not explored how media affects the self-concept and esteem of African American elementary aged children, who are more vulnerable to believing what they see on television is representative of real life. This study will be modeled after a study conducted by William Anderson and Bishetta Williams. In this study, children from ages 7 to 11 will be given interviews regarding their television viewing habits, asking what shows they watch, their favorite characters, how often they watch, and their belief in reality of the shows. They will then be given a survey which measures self-esteem, and will watch an episode of the Disney channel show, Hannah Montana. They will be asked questions regarding the plot and the racial diversity of the show. It is predicted that children who frequently watch shows without central African American characters and who highly identify with White characters will have lower self-esteem than those who watch shows that are more diverse, and that the children will believe the Hannah Montana episode portrays African Americans negatively. This study will add to existing research by providing a more extensive understanding of the self-concept and socialization of young African American children. Parents, programs, and television producers will then know the necessary steps to take in order to ensure the healthy identity-development of African American children.
School:
Rice University
Department:
Psychology
Research Advisor:
William Trent
Department of Research Advisor:
Educational Policy Studies
Year of Publication:
2008