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Imitating Life, Imitating Television

The Effects of Family and Television Models on Children’s Moral Reasoning

Department of Communication Sciences at the University of Connecticut, krcmarm{at}wfu.edu

Edward T. Vieira, Jr.

Department of Communications at Simmons College

Parent-child dyads responded to a questionnaire investigating the relative impact of exposure to television violence, family communication patterns, and parents’ moral reasoning on the moral reasoning of children. Because previous research found an effect of exposure to television violence on children’s moral reasoning, this study tested whether children’s perspective taking mediated the link between exposure to television violence and moral reasoning. Results suggest that (a) communication orientation is negatively related and control orientation positively related to children’s exposure to television violence, (b) television violence has a negative effect on children’s moral reasoning, and (c) perspective taking mediates the link between exposure to fantasy violence and children’s moral reasoning about justified violence such that more exposure to fantasy violence leads to less advanced perspective taking that leads to less advanced moral reasoning. Even when the age of the child is controlled, parents’ moral reasoning is unrelated to that of their children.

Key Words: children • television • family communication • moral reasoning • perspective taking • television violence

Communication Research, Vol. 32, No. 3, 267-294 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0093650205275381


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