TY - JOUR
T1 - Parent Sensitive Topic Understanding, Communication Comfort, and Parent-Adolescent Conversation Following Exposure to 13 Reasons Why
T2 - A Comparison of Parents from Four Countries
AU - Cingel, Drew P.
AU - Lauricella, Alexis R.
AU - Mann, Supreet
AU - Carter, Michael C.
AU - Wartella, Ellen
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by Netflix and conducted independently by the authors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - A number of recent series airing on traditional and streaming platforms portray sensitive topics faced by adolescents, including depression and suicide. Research has suggested that these subjects may be difficult for parents and adolescents to discuss, given their stigmatized nature. It is possible, however, that series portraying these issues in a realistic way can influence parent viewers’ perceived understanding of and comfort discussing these topics, and subsequently, relate to self-reported conversations with their adolescents. In addition, it is likely that these relations may differ for participants from different countries, especially considering country differences in mental health, access to mental health care, and stigmatization about mental health. We tested these relations using data from 778 parent viewers of the series 13 Reasons Why. We sampled viewers from four countries: Australia, the United States, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Results suggested an indirect association between self-reported topic understanding and starting a conversation with their adolescent about these topics via reports of comfort discussing these topics. Participants’ country of habitation at the time of the study did not significantly influence these associations. We discuss these findings in the context of parent-adolescent communication, particularly around sensitive health-related topics.
AB - A number of recent series airing on traditional and streaming platforms portray sensitive topics faced by adolescents, including depression and suicide. Research has suggested that these subjects may be difficult for parents and adolescents to discuss, given their stigmatized nature. It is possible, however, that series portraying these issues in a realistic way can influence parent viewers’ perceived understanding of and comfort discussing these topics, and subsequently, relate to self-reported conversations with their adolescents. In addition, it is likely that these relations may differ for participants from different countries, especially considering country differences in mental health, access to mental health care, and stigmatization about mental health. We tested these relations using data from 778 parent viewers of the series 13 Reasons Why. We sampled viewers from four countries: Australia, the United States, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Results suggested an indirect association between self-reported topic understanding and starting a conversation with their adolescent about these topics via reports of comfort discussing these topics. Participants’ country of habitation at the time of the study did not significantly influence these associations. We discuss these findings in the context of parent-adolescent communication, particularly around sensitive health-related topics.
KW - 13 Reasons Why
KW - Comfort
KW - Country differences
KW - Mental health
KW - Parent-adolescent communication
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U2 - 10.1007/s10826-021-01984-6
DO - 10.1007/s10826-021-01984-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107434984
SN - 1062-1024
VL - 30
SP - 1846
EP - 1857
JO - Journal of Child and Family Studies
JF - Journal of Child and Family Studies
IS - 8
ER -