The relationship between mass media exposure behavior and attitudes of university students towards violence against women

Abstract

The objectives of the research were to study mass media exposure behavior and attitudes towards violence against women by focusing on the relationship between mass media (television, newspaper and radio) exposure and the attitude of Thai female and male university students towards violence against women. A self-administered questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection, and the method conducted for analysis were percentage, mean, standard deviation, T-test, and Multiple Regression Analysis. The results showed that the sample group was exposed the most to television out of all mass media. Furthermore, the study found that the respondents had overall positive attitudes towards violence against women. However, the result of T-test analysis found that female university students had more positive attitude than males. Moreover, gender differences had a significant impact on different mass media exposure (p<0.5). The study indicated that female respondents tended to be exposed to entertainment content more than males. The results also showed that mass media exposure significantly influenced attitudes towards violence against women in sexual violence, domestic violence, complications of pregnancy, sexually transmitted affection, women trafficking and, inequalities in education, occupational sex segregation and wages whereas mass media exposure did not influence attitudes towards violence against women in portraying them as sex objects.;