Despite frequent warnings from pastoral leadership about the dangers of moral deviancy on television, conservative Protestant teenagers watch almost as much TV as their non-religious peers, according to an ongoing study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In contrast, teens in Mormon families average 11 hours of TV viewing per week, five hours less than the overall average of 16 hours, while black Protestant teens watch 23 hours of television per week. The data were culled from a survey of 3,000 American teenagers between ages 13 and 17, and is part of a four-year research project, the National Study of Youth and Religion, based at the university’s Odum Institute for Research in Social Science.
Conservative Christian teenagers said that they watched about 15 hours of TV per week, in line with the overall average. The survey did not capture teen-agers’ movie viewing on video, DVD or cable, but was addressed in a separate question. Nor did the study address what kind of programming religious youth were watching.
“The denominational differences in TV watching are surely affected by other factors,” said Phil Schwadel, a research associate with the NYSR. “Nevertheless, denominational differences remain even after considering factors such as family structure and social status.”
NYSR researchers said that non-religious factors, such as family structure, race, and social status, “appear to exhibit more influence on TV viewing.” They cited as an example that teen-agers in two-parent homes watch an average of 15 hours of television per week, compared to 18 hours per week for teens living in single-parent homes.
“It’s important to note that the hours of television viewing are reported by the teens,” Schwadel said. “We are not able to determine if more highly religious teens are watching inspirational programs or MTV.”
In February NYSR reported that religious background showed some influence on teenagers’ movie-viewing habits. That study found that 17 percent of youth who said their religious beliefs are extremely important to them watch mostly R-rated films and videos, and 26 percent of those whose religious beliefs are very important watch R-rated films and videos. In comparison, 48 percent of teen-agers who say religion has no bearing on their movie viewing said they watch mostly R-rated films and videos.
Paul Chesser is associate editor of Carolina Journal. Contact him at [email protected].