Development of an Adult Retrospective Recall Measure of Childhood Television Viewing

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the validity of an adult retrospective measure of childhood television exposure. A sample of 146 college students completed the retrospective measure in which they rated their viewing frequency for network television programs from four previous years spanning a decade. Participants were also asked to recall character or actor names and plot elements from several selected programs from each of the target years. In addition, participants completed a measure of media cultivation of social reality beliefs. Participants appeared to use the retrospective viewing measure as the researchers intended, as evidenced by a small proportion of programs watched frequently and very few endorsements of inserted false program titles. Analysis of character and actor names and plot elements indicated that program viewing frequency predicted the amount of material recalled from the program indicating validity of the viewing recall reports. Similar amounts of program content was recalled from each target year indicating little forgetting of past television viewing experiences. There was no cultivation effect demonstrated with amount of viewing. Findings suggest valid reporting of past television viewing patterns. This measure could be used to explore relationships between past television viewing and current psychological characteristics.