Family Conversations About Television

This is an examination of two kinds of conversations that parents and children sometimes have about television programs: first, conversations in which parents and children seek and/or exchange information about some aspect of reality portrayed or referred to on television; second, conversations in which family members discuss the appropriateness or inappropriateness of behavior shown or mentioned on television as a model for their own or other people's conduct. Examples taken from an observational study of families watching television in their homes are used to illustrate some of the forms these conversations can take, and, on the basis of these illustrations and of some previous research, speculations are offered about the role such conversations might play in family members' developing relationships to one another and to the “outside” world.