The Bold and the Beautiful: The impact of alcohol portrayal in soaps on adolescent drinking

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The Bold and the BeautifulThe impact of alcohol
portrayal in soaps on adolescent drinking
Rutger Engels, Debbie ter Braak, Sanne Eyndhoven,
Geertjan Overbeek, Ron Scholte, Raymond de Kemp
Els Rommes
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Alcohol on TV

• Adolescents knowledge, expectancies, and norms on
  alcohol are shaped by exposure to media
• There is evidence that portrayal of alcohol and
  smoking in films is affecting uptake of substance
  use in young people
• Dalton et al. (The Lancet, 2003)
• Movies contain explicit and primarily positive
  references to smoking
• Youngsters who watch these types of movies
  frequently are more likely to start smoking

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Theoretical explanation

• 1) Portrayal of drinking on TV and films is
  primarily positive with hardly references to
  negative aspects of drinking.
• Prolonged exposure may install pro-drinking
  norms, especially when these are facilitated by
  drinking of peers and parents
• 2) Direct imitation. Watching a character drink
  may led to direct imitation of that behavior,
  especially at home

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• Alcohol in soaps is common
• Pendleton et al. (1991) reported that 75 of the
  soaps in the UK have explicit visual and verbal
  references to alcohol. Eastenders
• Furnham et al. (1997) showed that drinking
  scenes consisted of 15 of the total time, and
  occured 6.4 times per hour.

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• The Osbournes
• Blair et al. (2006) analyzed 10 episodes of this
  real life soap, and found 91 depictions of drug
  use, with alcohol most prevalent one (51)

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Netherlands

• Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden
• daily soap during weekdays, at 8.00 PM. Very
  popular among youth.
• Van Hoof (2004) analyzed 40 episodes, and
  focused on actual drinking of main characters.
• 4.4 units per episode

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• We do not know whether young people who watch
  soaps frequently drink more alcohol themselves

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Research aims

1. Portrayal of alcohol in the two soaps in the
   Netherlands Content analysis
2. Associations between watching soaps and
   adolescent drinking Survey among 2190 adolescents

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Content Analysis

1. Onderweg naar Morgen (Ryans Hope) and Goede
   Tijden Slechte Tijden (The Restless Years)
2. Between November 14 2005 and December 23 2005
3. Coding of drinking by (20/21) leading characters
   in 28/30 episodes of both soaps. Coding was done
   for each character.
4. High interrater reliability

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• OnM
• on average 4.3 drinks per episode, which is one
  drink every 5 minutes. This is actual drinking,
  not a scene in a pub or restaurant.
• primarily in social settings (bar, café, party)
• Wine was most popular (43), beer (30), hard
  liquor (18) and cocktails (9)

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• GTST
• on average 2 drinks per episode, which is one
  drink every 12 minutes.
• primarily in social settings (bar, café, party)
• Wine was most popular (53), hard liquor (25),
  cocktails (15), and beer (7)

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Survey

• School-based survey, 28 schools, n 2313, mean
  age 14.99 (SD 1.09)
• Carried out between January and March 2006
• Questions on
• weekly drinking (recall of glasses in past
  week)
• watching both soaps
• favorability of the main characters

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• How often do they watch soap?
• OnM
• 77 never
• 6 2 or 3 days a week
• 9 4 or 5 days a week
• GTST
• 57 never
• 9 2 or 3 days a week
• 20 4 or 5 days a week

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Associations

• ANCOVAs, correcting for age, sex and educational
  level
• GTST (low portrayal of alcohol use)
• No association with adolescent drinking

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• OnM
• Main effect of frequency of watching Lowest
  levels of alcohol use in those who never watch
  soaps
• INTERACTION WITH SEX

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Popularity

• The top 10 most popular characters included
• The top 3 most heavily drinkers in OnM
• One of the top 3 heavy drinkers in GTST

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Additional Analyses

• We thought that if the modeling / social norm
  hypothesis is correct, watching soaps should be
  related to alcohol but not to other problem
  behaviors
• OnM
• No associations of watching frequently and
  adolescent adjustment (self-esteem, depression,
  delinquency, aggression)

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Conclusions

1. Alcohol use is common in soaps, primarily
   portrayed as sociable, glamorous, and enjoyable.
   Almost never associated with negative outcomes.
2. Soaps are extremely popular 15 view OnM 3 days
   or more per week, and 30 GTST 3 days or more per
   week
3. There is a link between watching OnM and alcohol
   consumption in youth, with different patterns for
   boys than for girls

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Explanation 1

1. GTST reduction of alcohol portrayal between
   spring 2004 and fall 2005.
2. Van Hoofs report received substantial attention
   in the media. Debate about sponsoring of soaps by
   the alcohol industry. Some actors were worried
   about their own image

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Explanation 2

1. OnM broadcasted on BNN, a channel primarily
   focussing on youth. Average age of characters is
   younger. Beer is more prevalent.
2. Stronger identification of youngsters with
   leading characters in this soap than in GTST

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Explanation 3

• Why differences between BOYS and GIRLS
• We found the predicted pattern in girls
• Boys who watch OnM every day (3 of the sample)
  might have fewer opportunities to drink, might be
  more tight to their parents, go out less often

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Limitation

• Cross-sectional,
• But even if it would be longitudinal this does
  not rule out selection effects, and does not
  provide concrete evidence for causal effects
• Experimental research is also problematic
• - no indication of effect of prolonged exposure
• - if they watch, they watch often

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• There are many alcohol commercials during the
  breaks. 50 of all alcohol commercials are before
  9 PM. We can not tear this apart.

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Implications

• There is substantial evidence that positive
  portrayal of substance use in the media is
  related to development of norms and expectancies,
  and behavior.
• Almost always positive, which might lead to
  unrealistic perceptions
• Effects are small (in all studies). Restricting
  drinking scenes will probably not have a strong
  impact.