The representation of family change in social science journals and women's magazines

The American family has changed during the twentieth century. Whether representations of the family in the print media have shaped, reflected, or controlled the family is unclear. The question which directed this research is: to what extent, when, and how are documentable changes in the family structure presented in nonfiction articles in women's magazines and professional social science journals?

Content analysis was used to examine the family related themes of nonfiction articles in three general interest women's magazines (Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, Good Housekeeping) and two social science journals (American Sociological Review and Journal of Marriage and the Family). The research covered the period from 1935 through 1975. Demographic data were used as measures of change in family structure.

In all three magazines and one social science journal the largest concentration of articles was in the thematic category of parent-child relations perhaps reflecting the societal shift to a child centered family. Neither medium presented information which drew their audience's attention to changes in divorce rates, age at marriage, or female labor force participation when they began to occur. Both the magazines and journals appeared to serve roles as maintainers of widely shared views of the nature of the family, of a shared symbolic reality. They played limited reflective roles presenting information (which at times was inaccurate, out of date, or inadequately documented) about a few well established demographic trends while ignoring others.

The selective treatment of family structure in the magazines and social science journals was explained by conceptualizing article writing as the "telling of a story."