Title: | Children's Comforting of Frightened Coviewers : Real and Hypothetical Television-Viewing Situations; Real and Hypothetical Television-Viewing Situations |
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Authors and Corporations: | , |
In: | Communication Research, 24, 1997, 2, p. 136-152 |
published: |
SAGE Publications
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Media Type: | Article, E-Article |
Physical Description: | 136-152 |
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ISSN: |
0093-6502
1552-3810 |
DOI: | 10.1177/009365097024002002 |
published in: | Communication Research |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Collection: | SAGE Publications (CrossRef) |
<jats:p> Children in first to sixth grade recalled a time they had watched television with someone who became scared, described how (if at all) they comforted the coviewer, and rated other aspects of the viewing situation. Children also described how they would comfort a hypothetical friend, whose age (younger, peer) and sex (same, opposite) were varied. Finally, they completed a self-report measure of empathy. Comforting messages were coded for their level of sensitivity using a nine-level hierarchy employed by Burleson. As expected, empathy was positively related to comforting level in both situations. Comforting level also increased with grade level, but only for the hypothetical situation. Higher level comforting messages were suggested for same-sex peers, but comforting was unaffected by the younger friend's sex. Emotions played a significant role in the real situation, with higher level messages used by less frightened children and offered to more frightened coviewers. </jats:p> |