Preaching to the choir: Profiling TV advisory ratings users

This investigation examines parents’ use of the MPAA television advisory ratings in their decision‐making and the manner by which ratings information is incorporated into rules and regulations about television in the home. The parents most likely to utilize TV ratings information, an expected small proportion of the sample, tended to employ a highly inductive (communication‐oriented) style of child rearing and a highly evaluative (discussion‐based) method of TV mediation. They believed that television can have significant positive and/or negative effects on children, and were more concerned with cognitive‐ and affective‐level effects. Interestingly, these parents had children who tended to need mediation the least: average‐to‐high academic achievers who were low‐to‐moderate consumers of television. The possible ramifications of these findings with regard to the new content‐driven ratings campaign and forthcoming V‐chip technology are discussed.