Cohort Trends in Media Use in the United States

Abstract

In this study, I replicate recent research conducted in Germany (Peiser, 1996) on differential effects of television on birth cohorts' media use in the first 2 decades after the diffusion of television. Cohort analyses of television viewing, attitude toward television, and newspaper reading were conducted using secondary data from the corresponding decades in the United States. Unlike in Germany, the American television generation apparently developed a closer relation with television than the preceding cohorts. As in Germany, newspaper reading was lower among the younger cohorts. The study's results point to a displacement process in the United States, and they suggest that the effects of growing up with television may depend on a country's television system.