Scope of Self: Toward a Model of Television's Effects on Self-Complexity in Adolescence

Abstract

Identity complexity has been associated with resilience, such that people with multidimensional self-concepts appear to suffer fewer emotional and physical health problems in response to stress. Adolescence is a time to build identities and manage new stressors; therefore, self-complexity is an important topic for research concerning adolescents. Studies have explored media effects on the content of the self-concept but have largely ignored its structural properties, one of which is self-complexity. Existing communication theories, moreover, have limited applicability to self-complexity as an outcome of media exposure. Thus, theory building is needed. This article presents cross-sectional data from two studies with adolescents, the first diverse in gender, the second diverse in race. Although television viewing was linked with different self-descriptors for different gender and racial groups, it predicted decreased self-complexity for all groups except African American females. In both studies, the downturn in self-complexity occurred at about 20 hours per week. Based on these findings, the development of a new model of television’s effects on self-complexity, the Scope of Self model, is proposed. Discussion focuses on key assumptions, constructs, and processes within the model, along with its predicted applicability to different groups.

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