The impact of media on Gozitan adolescent females' identity

Abstract

Adolescents spend a large amount of time using some type of media, especially television and music. Heavy hours of viewing or listening to these forms of media do have some effect on adolescents' identity development. This study sought to explore the ways that media impacts the identity of Gozitan female teenagers between the ages of 12 and 16 years old; A qualitative research design was used, taking on a phenomenological approach, and themes were elicited from four focus groups conducted for this study. The main findings suggested that older teenagers 14 to 19 year olds possess an achieved identity, while younger participants 12 and 13 year olds are still at the moratorium stage of development, as they are still searching for ideas through celebrities to secure themselves. Nevertheless, the study has shown that all of the participants use media for different reasons, some to imitate celebrities while some others to learn and grasp new material which they attempt to integrate into their identity.