Exposure Time to Romance Depicted in Media and its Influence on Beliefs about Romantic Relationships among Adults

Abstract

Media has become saturated with messages about romance. Yet, very scarce work has been done in studying the effects of romance oriented media on beliefs about romantic relationship. The present study aims at investigating the relationship between exposure to romantic media, perceived realism of the media and beliefs about romantic relationship among adults. An Expost facto research design was used and a sample of 439 individuals (121 males and 318 females) over age 18 was selected through purposive sampling. Online portals were used to circulate the survey. Sprecher and Metts Relationship Beliefs Scale (1989) and Rubin’s Perceived Realism Scale (1985) were used. The data was analysed inferentially by using Person Product Moment Correlation to establish relationships and t- test to study gender differences. The findings revealed that exposure to romantic media was not significantly related to beliefs about romantic relationships (except for beliefs about love at first sight), but perceived realism of media was significantly related to scores on Relationship Beliefs Scale. No significant gender differences were observed with respect to scores on Relationship Beliefs Scale, Perceived Realism Scale and exposure to romantic media. Thus, it was concluded that mere exposure to screen romance alone did not influence beliefs about romance; rather it was influenced by the extent to which people internalised these messages.