The Relationship Between Mass Media Exposure and Family Planning Attitudes
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Date
2007-08
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between mass media exposure (particularly to
messages about family planning) and family planning attitudes among married couples in
two sub-cities of Addis Ababa.
As the population was very large, strata sampling was employed to select respondents
and include gender disparity. From each stratum, 90 individuals were approached and
interviewed with the help of 6 enumerators. It must be noticed that results obtained from
this sample are specific to this particular case. A standardized face-to-face interview was
used as a data collection instrument. It was designed to help gather information on
demographic characteristics, family planning attitudes, media habits and family planning
behaviors.
The collected data were entered into SPSS and analyzed for the prevalence of family
planning attitudes, the respondents’ media habits, and the correlation between media
exposure and family planning attitudes. The results revealed that nearly 85% of the
respondents believe spacing/limiting birth is appropriate to use to reduce maternal/child
mortality and the present population growth rate. Each respondent reported exposure to
the media an average of 3 hours per day, which identified them as midrange media
consumers. H1, which states a positive relationship between media exposure and family
planning attitudes, was also confirmed for both total media exposure[r(180)=.410,
p<0.001] and exposure to media messages about family planning [r (180) =.271,
p<0.005].
Moreover, demographic variables—sex, education, religion, and residence significantly
affected the relationship between variables stated in hypothesis one [H1] and hypothesis
two [H2]. These data also indicated the presence of resonance hypothesis—the
relationship between mass media exposure and family planning attitude was stronger for
those who practice family planning than for those who do not practice family planning,
only in the case of exposure to media messages about family planning.
The positive relationship between media exposure and family planning may show a road
sign that mass media could be useful in promoting family planning with the aim of
influencing media consumers’ attitudes. This may stand to offer new insights about mass
media effects in the context of health communication where researches in this realm are
based on non-media theories to explain media effects.
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Keywords
Mass Media Exposure