Television In Relationships

Lull believes that there are two socially motivated reasons for viewing television. Television can be used as a tool to regulate life in a home and secondly, provide a focus to this study; people watch television for relational purposes. The relational purposes include viewing to facilitate communication, viewing for affiliation or avoidance, viewing for social learning , and viewing for competence/dominance (Lull, 1980). .
             RQ1: Is coviewing a parallel or interactive activity for married couples? .
             RQ2: For what social uses do couples in the 1990's watch television? .
             Method.
             The study was used to explore television viewing among married couples. The researchers assume that the participating couples watch television, have memorable experiences, and then will be open and truthful about their experiences. .
             Participants.
             Fourteen acquaintances of the researcher were selected for this study. All marital couples/participants were interviewed and agreed to discuss television viewing between themselves and their spouses. Ages range from early 30's to mid-40's and all were married from 5 to 18 years. All participants were parents and had some type of education from high school to advanced degrees. .
             Procedures.
             The methods and instruments conducted were personal interviews, which took approximately 30 minutes, and took place in researchers or participants homes. Two interviews occurred in November 1994, and the others were conducted in September/October 1995. Questions explored watching television alone, with a spouse, with family, and how television played a role in relationships. .
             Results.
             All data consisted of field notes, audio tapings, and transcript tapes. Researchers analyzed the data to determine similarities and differences among the couples" relational uses of television. Results supported and extended Lull's (1980) social uses typology. .
             Parallel vs. Interactive Coviewing .
             All couples tended to watch television together rather than alone and even when watching in silence, couples still saw the viewing as an interactive experience.