This study examines the relationships between levels of television exposure and AIDS-related fears within the context of cultivation theory and methodology. / What has been called the second AIDS epidemic (Ostrow, 1988)--the fears associated with contracting HIV and the consequences of AIDS--has been shown to elicit personal and societal negative effects, including unsafe sexual behaviors, psychopathological disorders, discriminatory attitudes and behaviors, and a decrease in the nation's blood reserves. / Heavier television viewers were predicted in the present study to be more likely to express heightened, unhealthy levels of AIDS-related fears as a result of their increased exposure to the sexual- and AIDS-related messages the medium provides. / Three factorially-derived AIDS-related fear dimensions are found to marginally correlate with levels of television exposure: (a) fear of AIDS contraction through medical tests or procedures, (b) fear of the AIDS virus and other associated viruses through sexual contact, and (c) fear of AIDS contraction through sexual contact with members of risk groups. / The data collected using the Arrindell et al. (1989) fear-of-AIDS questionnaire also suggest that college-aged students' overall levels of AIDS-related fears have not changed in the six years since the scale was administered. Within the context of AIDS fears, having contact with other people's blood and sexual contact with different partners are anxieties which appear to have increased, whereas the fears associated with casual contact with homosexual, bisexuals, or an AIDS victim seem to have decreased. / A new model for predicting cultivation, dependent upon whether individuals are asked to make evaluations of personal- or societal-level phenomena, is also offered in this study. Within this model, the variable "Perceived Ability to Control Personal Victimization" (CONTROL) was introduced for personal-level perceptual measures. CONTROL had a contingent effect on the "AIDS contraction through medical tests or procedures" factorially-derived fear dimension, but was not found to be an intervening variable within the cultivation process of resonance. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2372. / Major Professor: Gary R. Heald. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76930 |
| Contributors | Molitor, Fred Timothy., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 165 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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