Publication Date

2024

Document Type

Book

Description

This study examined the effects of familial acceptance of LGBT teens in TV shows and how these representations affect viewer empathy. Fifty-four participants aged 18-54 were sampled. Participants responded to a survey in which they viewed 3 video clips of coming-out scenes, one from Glee (low acceptance), one from Love, Victor (medium acceptance), and one from Heartstopper (high acceptance). Participants then gave Likert scale responses to questions measuring how accurately they recognized interpersonal dynamics in the scenes. Preliminary results show that the most amount of variation in reaction comes from the clip from Love, Victor (?=0.996), and the least comes from the clip from Heartstopper (?=0.366). It was also found that participants strongly agreed the interactions were negative in low-acceptance clips, participants neither agree nor disagree the interaction was positive or negative in medium-acceptance clips, and participants strongly agreed the interaction was positive in high-acceptance clips. Thus far, the results indicate that participants have the most empathy for positive coming out scenes, as measured in accurate emotional recognition with the least amount of variance, where the character is accepted and supported.

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Family Acceptance of LGBT Youths in Media and Parasocial Empathy

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