THE INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN TELEVISION ON NIGERIAN YOUTHS: A CASE STUDY OF YEAR TWO STUDENTS IN DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND FILM STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT

This study focuses on the influence of foreign television on year two students in the department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Port Harcourt, as a representation of Nigerian youths. It probed the influence foreign Television has on the lives of Nigerian youths on a lot of things especially in the dance and dressing patterns the youths showcase in recent times. The study was anchored on the Cultivation theory and Social cognitive theory. Using the survey method, and questionnaire as instrument; a total of 188 valid responses were collected out of 200 which were given out to the year two students in the department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Port Harcourt. The findings revealed that foreign television programmes influenced the style of dressing of Nigerian youths (42%), dancing styles (56.9%), fashion and dress patterns (43.6%) and sexual orientation (51%) This study has concluded that the high exposure of Nigerian youths to foreign television programmes in an unrestricted and unsupervised manner can be linked to the popularity and availability of cable TV in almost every home today. It is therefore recommended that the youths should be guided properly on what they watch so as to guide their decision making. Also, indigenous producers should strive to be more creative and original in their production to increase viewership.

Keywords: foreign television, Influence, dressing/fashion, Dance style, Sexual orientation, Nigerian Youths.

CERTIFICATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT v

TABLE OF CONTENT vi

LIST OF TABLES ……………………………………………………………………….ix

LIST OF FIGURES x

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 2

1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 4

1.4 METHODOLOGY 4

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 5

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 5

1.7 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 6

LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 INTRODUCTION 7

2.2 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TELEVISION 7

2.2.1 EVOLUTION OF TELEVISION IN NIGERIA 8

2.2.2 THE CONCEPT OF TELEVISION AS A MASS MEDIA 8

2.3 EFFECTS OF TELEVISION ON YOUTHS 9

2.3.1 INFLUENCE ON CULTURAL VALUES 10

2.3.2 INFLUENCE ON IMMORALITY AND SEXUAL PROMISCUITY. 12

2.3.3 INFLUENCE ON DANCE AND DRESS CODE 13

2.3.4 INFLUENCE ON SPEAKING SKILLS 14

2.4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 14

2.4.1 THE CULTIVATION THEORY 15

2.4.2 THE SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY 15

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16

3.1 INTRODUCTION 16

3.2 STUDY DESIGN 16

3.3 STUDY AREA 17

3.4 POPULATION OF THE STUDY 17

3.5 SOURCES OF DATA 18

3.5.1 PRIMARY SOURCES OF DATA 18

3.5.2 SECONDARY SOURCES OF DATA 18

3.6 DESIGN AND ADMINISTRATION OF QUESTIONNAIRE 18

3.7 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES 19

3.8 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS 19

3.9 VALIDITY OF INSTRUMENT 20

3.10 ETHICAL CONSIDERATION 20

RESULT AND ANALYSIS 21

4.1 INTRODUCTION 21

4.2 DEMOGRAPHIC DATA 21

4.3 EXPOSURE AND SPEECH 22

4.4 SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR 23

4.5 FASHION AND DANCE 24

4.6 SEXUAL ORIENTATION 26

4.7 TEST OF HYPOTHESIS 27

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 32

5.1 INTRODUCTION 32

5.2 DISCUSSION 32

5.2.1 FINDINGS FOR RESEARCH QUESTION 1 32

5.2.2 FINDINGS FOR RESEARCH QUESTION 2 33

5.2.3 FINDINGS FOR RESEARCH QUESTION 3 34

5.3 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION  34

REFERENCES 36

APPENDIX A…………………………………………………………….………………………………… 39

APPENDIX B ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 40

QUESTIONNAIRE ………………………………………………………………………………………..  40

SECTION ONE (Background information) …………………………………………………. 40

SECTION TWO (Exposure and Speech) ……………………………………………………… 40

SECTION THREE (Social Behaviour) ………………………………………………………….. 41

Table 4.1: Demographic information  – – – – – –      21

Table 4.2: Exposure to foreign television  – – – – –      22

Table 4.3: Influence of exposure to foreign television on speech  –       22

Table 4.4: Influence of foreign television programs on social behaviour       23

Table 4.5: influence of foreign television programs on the fashion an dressing styles  – – – – – – – –      24

Table 4.6: Influence of foreign television programs on dance styles  –      25

Table 4.7: Influence of foreign television programs on the sexual orientation     26

Table 4.8: Condensed Outcome Of Four Questions For Testing Hypothesis 1 –    28

Table 4.9: Contingency Table of X2 For Hypothesis 1  –  –  – –    28

Table 4.10: Condensed Outcome Of Three Questions For Hypothesis 2  – –    29

Table 4.11: Contingency Table of X2 For Hypothesis 2  – – – –    29

Table 4.12: Condensed Outcome of Five Questions For Testing Hypothesis 3  –    30

Table 4.13: Contingency Table of X2 For Hypothesis 3—     30

Figure 4.1: Influence of exposure to foreign television on speech  –  23

Figure 4.2: Influence of foreign television programs on social behaviour –  24

Figure 4.3: Influence of television programs on fashion and dressing styles      25

Figure 4.4: Influence of foreign television programs on dance styles  –   26

Figure 4.5: Influence of foreign television programs on the sexual orientation 27