A content analysis of popular magazine articles on eating disorders.

This study tested two hypotheses about popular magazine articles on eating disorders: (a) anorexics would be profiled more often than bulimics due to their conformity to the thin beauty ideal projected in the Western media, and (b) disordered behaviors used to achieve weight loss would be mentioned more often than their physical consequences. Forty-two popular magazine articles on eating disorders published in the last five years were coded for illness type, mention of weight loss, disordered behaviors, and health impacts. The findings confirmed both hypotheses.

Homosexuality in TV situation comedies: characters and verbal comments.

A content analysis was conducted on 22 television situation comedies in order to determine the incidence of homosexual characters, their demographics (sex, age and race/ethnicity), and whether they verbally comment about sexual orientation. One episode of each program appearing in early October 2000 was video recorded and analyzed for its contents by trained coders. Only 2% of the 125 central characters were homosexual; thus, homosexuality is significantly under-represented in programs that adolescents and young adults watch compared to actual prevalence rates of homosexuality in North America (10-13%). All the homosexual characters were male and in the 20-35-year-old age group; this indicates that homosexual adolescent viewers have no peer role models with whom to identify. Homosexual characters made significantly more comments about sexual orientation than heterosexual characters. This suggests that television writers/producers present sexual orientation as a significant theme in the lives of homosexual characters.