Television, Youth Identity and Value Socialisation: A Study Among Students in Pekanbaru, Riau, Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to identify (a) the form of television penetration in youth life; (b) the influence of television penetration on youth values and identities; (c) the relation between the social institutions and their roles in strengthening youth values and identities; and (d) the influence of demographic factors on youth values and identities. Using Social Cognitive Theory, this study took 15–24 year-old teenagers living in Pekanbaru as the population of the study. The samples consisted of 225 teenagers for the survey and 11 teenagers for the in-depth interviews selected from four senior high schools and two universities in Pekanbaru using multi-stage cluster random sampling. The finding—using descriptive statistical analysis, correlations, multiple regression, and qualitative analysis—shows there was a high penetration of television in the lives of the youth, and the penetration level has a significant correlation with their identities and values. Social institutions have a higher significant correlation with their values and identities. The correlation data also indicated that the television penetration on the youth (television environment, television usage, and television orientation) can predict some dependent variables, i.e. value orientation, group identity, and social identity; whereas social institutions (family, peers, school, and religion) can predict the other dependent variables, i.e. personal values, social values, value orientation, personal identity, and social identity. Hence, social institutions have a stronger relation with youth values and identity than that of television. The finding supported the Social Cognitive Theory that the youths have undergone a learning phase through a process of mass media socialisation.