The Bridget Jones Effect: The Relationship Between Romantic Television Viewing and Fear of Being Single Among Emerging Adults

• In Event: Media, Romance, Relationship

Abstract

Although studies have suggested that a fear of being single may affect how people deal with romantic relationships (e.g., being more dependent on less satisfying relationships), less is known about what exactly causes such a fear. In this study, television exposure was put forward as one of the candidate predictors. Based on cultivation theory, we hypothesized that individuals’ exposure to romantic television content would be significantly positively related to their fear of being single. Analyses on a cross-sectional sample of 821 emerging adults (18-25 years old) did not show a significant overall relationship between romantic television viewing and fear of being single, but moderation results indicated that this relationship did occur for females who were single themselves. Suggesting that romantic television content might contribute to the fear of being single only for specific members of the genre’s audience, these findings could have general implications for theorizing on cultivation-type media effects.

Authors

• Elisabeth Timmermans, U of Leuven - School for Mass Communication Research

• Lennert Coenen, U of Leuven - School for Mass Communication Research

• Jan Van den Bulck, University of Michigan