Continuities and Discontinuities in Media Usage and Taste: A Longitudinal Study

In England in 1951, as part of a larger inquiry, 13–14‐year‐old boys from middle and working class homes were systematically assessed as to the role of media in their lives. In 1962, when they were 24–25, 365 of the group completed a questionnaire about leisure and the media; and in 1970, 246 of the sample, then aged 32–33 were again questionned. The relative role of social, personality, and outlook factors in accounting for media usage and taste was examined at the several developmental stages, as well as longitudinally across the 20 year span of the study, which encompassed the period during which television was introduced and absorbed into the leisure space of the sampled population.