The Influence of Death Obsession and Anxiety on Exposure
to Popular Culture Media
Garmon, Lance C.1, Patterson, Meredith M.1, Shultz, Jennifer M.2,
Patterson, Michael C.3
1
2
Salisbury University, Northern Virginia Community College, 3 University
of Maryland Eastern Shore
Abstract
Consistent with Uses and Gratification Approach (see Rubin, 1994), the
current study explores the role death-related issues may play on an
emerging adult’s choice to read the books or watch the movies which
comprise three recent popular culture phenomenons. While absolute
exposure to each media phenomenon was predictably high, large variations
in the level of exposure were found and were related to measures of Death
Obsession and Death Anxiety. Variations in these relationships are
explored, particularly the strong overall finding for all Harry Potter media
formats, but only book exposure to The Hunger Games.
Introduction
 Why are some individuals more likely to self-select exposure to certain
media options?
o Media Effects theories “suggest…the media generally drives any
effects on viewers” and therefore often focus on correlations between
exposure to media content, (i.e. aggression; violence) and behavior
[eg. “social learning theory (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961), cultivation
theory (Gerbner & Gross, 1976), information processing theory
(Huesmann, & Eron, 1986), and the general aggression model
(Anderson & Bushman, 2002”] (Coyne, et al., 2013, p. 127)
o Uses and Gratification approach “emphasizes the role of social and
psychological factors in mediating (and mitigating) individual’s’
media consumption” (Arnett, 1995, pp. 520) because individuals
“have specific needs and they gravitate toward the media to fulfill and
satiate these needs” (Coyne, et al., 2013, p. 127)
 Mortality Salience
o Death Obsession: refers to preoccupations, impulses and persistent
ideas about death (see Maltby & Day, 2000)
o Death Anxiety: refers to anxiety that is caused by a preoccupation with
death (see (see Templer, 1970)
 Mortality Salience and Media Selection
o Research has shown that mortality salience influences media choices,
including preferences for one-sided, attitude-supported political
content (Lavine, Lodge, Freitas, 2005), gender inclusiveness (Walsh &
Smith, 2007) sexual media content (Taylor, 2013), and law and justice
programming (Taylor, 2012).
o During the last decade, three media franchises—The Harry Potter
Series, The Twilight Saga, and The Hunger Games—have reached
incredibly high levels of popularity telling stories containing strong
themes of death and loss
 Current study: expands upon research supporting the Uses and
Gratification Approach (Rubin, 1994) and explores Mortality Salience in
terms of whether young adults’ Death Obsession and/or Death Anxiety
make them more likely to select media options with strong themes of
death and loss.
Methods
 214 College Students completed Online Survey for course credit
o 70.9% (N = 151) Female; 29.1% (N = 62) Male; 1 nonresponse
o Ages ranged from 18 to 25 (M = 19.77)
 Combination of new and previously established measures were utilized
o Demographic and Media Exposure measures designed for this study
o Death Anxiety Scale (Templer, 1970)
 Anxiety that is caused by a preoccupation with death
 Sum 15 True/False items
o Death Obsession Scale (Maltby & Day; 2000)
 Preoccupations, impulses and persistent ideas about death
 Sum of 15 5-point Likert Scale items
 3 factors: Rumination, Dominance, and Idea Repetition
o Media Exposure Motivation measure designed for current study
 Based on Arnett’s (1995) 5 motivation categories Entertainment:
to enjoy a part of leisure life
 Identity Formation: to cultivate conception of own values, abilities
and hopes for the future
 Sensation Seeking: to provide intense and novel stimulation
 Coping: to relieve and dispel negative emotions
 Cultural Identification: to remain connected to the larger peer
values and interests
 Rate each motivation for each media franchise (15 items total)
 Average of 5-point Likert Scale for each item
Results
•
•
•
•
•
Absolute Exposure was High for all three Media Franchises, particularly The
Harry Potter Series (See Figures 1-3)
Level of Film Exposure consistently higher than Book Exposure (See Table 1)
Females reported higher Levels of Exposure to The Twilight Saga and The
Hunger Games but comparable Levels of Exposure to The Harry Potter Series to
males (See Table 1)
Mortality Salience (See Table 2)
• No significant differences for Absolute Exposure categories with any of 3
franchises
• No significant relationships involving The Twilight Saga Level of Exposure
• Different findings for books and films of The Hunger Games
• Different findings for types of Mortality Salience and The Harry Potter Series
Media Exposure Motivation (See Table 3)
• Interactions between Level of Exposure and Motivations varied by franchise
and format
• More types of reported motivations for exposure to Films than Books
• More types of reported motivations for exposure to The Harry Potter Series
• Interactions between Mortality Salience and Motivations also varied by
franchise
Discussion
•
•
Does support Uses and Gratification Approach (Rubin, 1964)
o Results suggest consumers perceive different motivational uses when selecting
media
o Findings varied by media content (Themes of Death and Loss)
o Findings varied by media format (Books vs. Films)
Individuals reporting higher Mortality Salience selected higher levels of exposure
to media that more explicitly emphasized themes of death and loss
o The Twilight Saga incorporates the concept of death only slightly, & no
significant relationships were found between exposure Mortality Salience
o The central character of The Hunger Games, on the other hand, both
experiences death of family and friends and is required to kill others to
survive.
 Exposure to books associated with Death Obsession factors, but not Death
Anxiety
 Interestingly, no significant findings were found for movie exposure.
o Finally, the theme of death plays a central role in The Harry Potter Series
(Hook, 2006) by incorporating the death of friends of family members
throughout each story
 Death Anxiety was related to Film, but not Book Exposure
 Death Obsession factors related to exposure to both books and films
o Future research should explore other media containing themes of death or loss,
including television programs, graphic novels, and music
o May support the use of fictionalized death media in mental health settings
 Previous work explores Harry Potter and grieving (Hook, 2006; McNulty,
2008)
 Current study suggests individuals who are already preoccupied with death
are more likely to select media with fictionalized themes of death and loss
References
Arnett, J. J. (1995). Adolescents’ Uses of Media for Self-Socialization. Journal of Youth and
Adolescence, 24(5), 519-533. doi: 10.1007/BF01537054
Coyne, S. M., Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Howard, E. (2013). Emerging in a Digital World: A
Decade Review of Media Use, Effects, and Gratifications in Emerging Adulthood,
Emerging Adulthood, 1(2), 155-137. doi: 10.1177/2167696813479782
Hook, M. (2006). What Harry and Fawkes have in common: The transformative power of
grief. In N. Mulholland (Ed.), The Psychology of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized
Examination of the Boy Who Lived (pp. 91-104). Dallas, TX:BenBella Books, Inc.
Lavine, H., Lodge, M., & Freitas, K. (2005). Threat, Authoritarianism, and Selective Exposure
to Information. Political Psychology, 26(2), 219-244. doi: 10.1111/j.14679221.2005.00416.x
Maltby, J. & Day, L. (2000). The reliability and validity of the Death Obsession Scale among
English university and adult samples. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 695700. doi: 10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00131-2
McNulty, W. (2008) Harry Potter and the prisoner within: Helping children with traumatic
loss. In L. C. Rubin (Ed.), Popular Culture in Counseling, Psychotherapy, and PlayBased Interventions (pp. 25-42). New York:Springer Publishing company, LLC.
Rubin, A. M. (1994). Media Uses and Effects: A Uses-and-Gratifiction Perspective. In J.
Bryant and D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research (pp.
417-436). Hillsdale, New Jersey:Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Templer, D. I. (1970). The construction and validation of a Death Anxiety Scale, The Journal
of General Psychology, 82, 165-177. doi: 10.1080/00221309.1970.9920634
Walsh, P. E., & Smith, J. L. (2007). Opposing standards within the cultural worldview: Terror
management and American women’s desire for uniqueness versus inclusiveness.
Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, 103–113. doi: 10.1111/ j.1471-6402.2007.00335.x
Taylor, L.D. (2013). Thoughts of death and preferences for sexual media content. Journal of
Media Psychology, 25, 55-64. DOI: 10.1027/1864-1105/a000079
Taylor, L.D. (2012). Death and television: Terror Management Theory and themes of law and
justice on television. Death Studies, 36, 340-359. doi: 10.1080/07481187.2011.553343
Figure 1: Harry Potter Absolute Exposure
Yes
No
Figure 3: Hunger Games Absolute Exposure
Yes
80%
20%
No
63%
37%
Figure 2: Twilight Saga Absolute Exposure
Yes
No
69%
31%
Table 1: Level of Exposure and Gender Differences
Harry Potter
Twilight Saga
M Exposure
M Exposure
(N = 171)
(N = 147)
Any
Book
Film
Any
Medi
Books
Films
s
s
Media
a
All
1.85
.86
2.84
1.17
.59
1.63
Participants
Gender
Compariso
n
Female
1.91
.83
2.98
1.33
.70
1.84
Male
1.71
.92
2.51
.56
.16
.87
16.82**
13.28**
12.12*
F
ns
ns
ns
*
*
*
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
Hunger Games
M Exposure
(N = 135)
Any
Media
Book
s
Films
.94
.53
2.19
1.07
.65
8.91*
*
.62
.31
2.41
1.68
8.89*
*
4.80*
Table 2: Correlations for Exposure Levels and Mortality Salience
Mortality Salience
Death Obsession
Death
Anxiety
Rumination
Dominance
Harry Potter
Exposure Level (N = 171)
Books
.07
.16*
.23**
Films
.18*
.19*
.17*
Any Media
.17*
.21**
.23**
Motivations (N = 170)
Entertainment
.18*
.08
.24**
Identity Formation
.15
.21**
.24**
Sensation Seeking
.16*
.08
.12**
Coping
.17*
.25**
.20**
Cultural
.10
.17*
.17*
Identification
Twilight Saga
Exposure Level (N = 147)
Books
.07
.07
.04
Films
.12
.05
-.04
Any Media
.12
.07
-.02
Motivations (N = 150)
Entertainment
.11
.03
.06
Identity Formation
.12
.09
.13
Sensation Seeking
.09
.06
.14
Coping
.04
.04
.03
.
Cultural
.02
.11
.11
Identification
Hunger Games
Exposure Level (N = 135)
Books
-.04
.18*
.16
Films
.02
-.06
-.01
Any Media
.02
.11
.12
Motivations (N = 134)
Entertainment
.12
-.06
.08
Identity Formation
.23**
.23**
.21*
Sensation Seeking
.16
.11
.20*
Coping
.14
.09
.11
Cultural
.09
.07
.01
Identification
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
Table 3: Correlations for Media Exposure Motivations
Idea Repetition
.16*
.18*
.20*
.14
.17
.06
.15*
.12
.12
.07
.10
-.01
-.06
.03
.01
.04
.22*
-.04
.15
-.01
.20*
.16
.08
.11
Entertainment
Harry Potter
Exposure Level (N = 170)
Books
.20**
Films
.30***
Any Media
.31***
Mortality Salience (N = 170)
Death Anxiety
.18*
Death Obsession
Rumination
.08
Dominance
.24**
Idea
.09
Repetition
Twilight Saga
Exposure Level (N = 170)
Books
.29***
Films
.41***
Any Media
.42***
Mortality Salience (N = 147)
Death Anxiety
.11
Death Obsession
Rumination
.03
Dominance
.06
.
Idea
-.01
Repetition
Hunger Games
Exposure Level (N = 134)
Books
.29**
Films
.27**
Any Media
.34***
Mortality Salience (N = 134)
Death Anxiety
.12
Death Obsession
Rumination
.16
Dominance
.14
Idea
.09
Repetition
*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
Media Exposure Motivations
Identity
Sensation
Coping
Formation
Seeking
Cultural
Identification
.28***
.32***
.36***
.37***
.39***
.45***
.26**
.26**
.30***
.00
.15*
.11
.15
.16*
.17*
.10
.21**
.24**
.08
.21**
.25**
.20**
.17*
.17*
.14
.06
.15*
.12
.11
.22**
.22**
.38***
.35***
.41***
.13
.21**
.22**
.09
.22**
.20*
.12
.09
.04
.02
.09
.13
.06
.14
.04
.03
.11
.11
-.06
.03
.01
.04
.16
.21*
.21*
.36***
.29**
.40***
.12
.09
.13
.16
.16
.19*
.23**
.16
.14
.09
.16
.10
.11
.09
.20*
.11
.16
.08
.09
.07
.11
.11