Medium Matters: A Decade of Media Consumption Predicts Positive and Negative Dimensions of Self-Perceptions of Aging
Abstract Objective Media consumption over time is suggested to be a significant contributor to how people develop their self-perceptions of aging (SPA); however, this association has only been investigated with cross-sectional methodologies. The current study used growth curve modeling to examine the influence of 10 years of television, newspaper, radio, and book consumption on positive and negative dimensions of SPA. Method Growth curve modeling on four waves of data from the German Aging Survey (N =2,969), a population-based representative survey of adults aged 40 to 95, was used to examine the longitudinal associations between media consumption and SPA trajectories. Results Across ten years, more television intake (B= -0.58, 95% CI [-0.94, -0.21]) was associated with lower perceptions of continuous growth. Inversely, greater book (B= 0.10, 95% CI [0.06, 0.13]) and radio (B= 0.52, 95% CI [0.29, 0.74]) consumption was significantly linked to higher perceptions of continuous growth. In parallel, more television (B= 0.88, 95% CI [0.52, 1.25]) and newspaper consumption (B= 0.46, 95% CI [0.04, 0.88]) was associated with higher perceptions of physical decline, while greater radio (B= -0.40, 95% CI [-0.64, -0.16]) and book (B= -0.05, 95% CI [-0.09, -0.00]) consumption was associated with lower perceptions of physical decline. Discussion This study provides longitudinal evidence that the type of media consumed over time is linked to people’s SPA. Not all types of media intake are negative as radio and book consumption was associated with better SPA across time. Age group differences were investigated and are discussed in the supplemental materials.