Abstract
With increasing media choice, particularly through the rise of streaming services, it has become more important for empirical research to examine how youth decide which programs to view, particularly when the content focuses on difficult health topics such as suicide. The present study investigated why adolescents and young adults chose to view or not view season 1 of 13 Reasons Why and how individual-level variables related to adolescents’ and young adults’ viewing. Using survey data gathered from a sample of 1,100 adolescents and young adult viewers and non-viewers of the series in the United States, we examined how participants’ resilience, loneliness, and social anxiety related to whether participants viewed the first season or not. Our descriptive results indicate that adolescents who watched the show reported that it accurately depicted the social realities of their age group, they watched it because friends recommended it, and they found the subject matter to be interesting. Non-viewers reported that they chose not to view the show because the nature of the content was upsetting to them. In addition, results demonstrated that participants’ social anxiety and resilience related to participants’ viewing decisions, such that those with higher social anxiety and higher resilience were more likely to report watching season 1. Together, these data suggest that youth make intentional decisions about mental health-related media use in an attempt to choose content that is a good fit for based on individual characteristics.
Highlights
Behind the Reasons: The Relationship Between Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health Risk Factors and Exposure to Season one of Netflix’s 13 Reasons WhyEntertainment media producers have increasingly integrated mental health-related topics into their narratives, including depictions of depression, suicide, bullying, and sexual assault (Pirkis and Blood, 2001; Rubin, 2014)
Selective Exposure and 13 Reasons Why series has been controversial for its plotline, which involves a detailed and graphic account of the series of events that lead to a fictional adolescent character (Hannah Baker) dying by suicide
Though the series has been popular among adolescent audiences globally, the show provoked a debate over its portrayal of sensitive subjects such as suicide, self-harm, rape, and bullying, with some arguing that it may have violated guidelines on media portrayals of suicide (Arendt et al, 2017; Chesin et al, 2019)
Summary
Behind the Reasons: The Relationship Between Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health Risk Factors and Exposure to Season one of Netflix’s 13 Reasons WhyEntertainment media producers have increasingly integrated mental health-related topics into their narratives, including depictions of depression, suicide, bullying, and sexual assault (Pirkis and Blood, 2001; Rubin, 2014). Multiple other studies using large, non at-risk samples have found potentially prosocial correlates of viewing (e.g., Arendt et al, 2019; Carter et al, 2020). Together, these findings suggest there is disagreement between studies about whether effects exist and, if they do, whether they are more positive or negative (see Mueller, 2019). Research has not yet considered the characteristics of the audience of 13RW, and a study of this kind will provide more information regarding who watched season 1 of the series, and could help to explain some of the differences detected as to the correlates of viewing. We examine participants’ responses to why they chose to watch or not to watch season 1, and test how key risk factors including loneliness, social anxiety, and resilience associate with participants’ viewing
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