Remembering Past Media Use: Toward the Development of a Lifetime Television Exposure Scale

Cultivation theory, and the study of long-term media effects in general, could benefit from the development of a scale that measures long-term television exposure levels. Theory and research into the organization, storage, and retrieval of long-term memory are used to develop a scale for measuring past and present television exposure levels. In a survey of 207 young adults, a Lifetime Television Exposure (LTE) scale is submitted to tests of criterion validity. Findings show the scale positively predicts cultivation outcomes above and beyond existing measures of current television exposure. Television viewing during early childhood, in particular, predicts young adults' current social reality beliefs. Methodological considerations and directions for future research are discussed.