Entertainment-Education and the Parent-Child Relationship (PCR) in China: Two Audience Investigations of “Babaqunaer”

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Paper Session: Children, Adolescents, and the Media Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Currently, Chinese families face the potential risk of an absent father, which may thwart a child’s development. Aiming to enhance public awareness about the parent-child relationship, Chinese television has produced some entertainment-education programs about the parent-child relationship, of which Babaqunaer (“Dad, where are we going?”) is one. This article analyzes the effect of Babaqunaer using different designs and participants. Two studies were conducted—a longitudinal study using college students as a sample and another using married people with children. Both studies involved audience interaction and media exposure, which are core variables in the mechanism of the entertainment-education effect. The results indicated that 1) the degree of parasocial relationships partly predicted the entertainment-education effect; 2) parasocial relationships will change over time but cannot predict the long-term effect of the entertainment-education program; 3) interpersonal communications related to the entertainment-education program predicted the entertainment-education effect; and 4) for college students, more frequent viewing of the entertainment-education program led to a stronger effect.

Authors

• Zhihao Ma, University of Macau

• Jinping Ge, Zhejiang U of Media and Communications