While the role of the media in the identity work of children, adolescents, migrants or fans of particular genres and formats has seen much research, little attention has been paid to the impact of everyday media practices on the general identity work of young adults. To address this gap, we conducted an explorative study based on four-week media diaries of 59 students. These were used to identify four different types of multi-media theme repertoires and the ways in which they are employed for different identity practices. While drama-lovers and sports-fans differ strongly in their thematic interests, they share a similar identity style, relying mostly on practices of identification and of expressing their affiliation to certain in-groups via media content. In contrast, the identity style of news-aficionados and intense-media-users is mainly based on practices of distinction.
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Königslöw et al. (2016) studied this question.