Letters to the editor : an analysis of the differences in letters written by men and women and the occurrence of mobilizing information

A content analysis of letters to the editor was conducted to determine if there were any differences between those written by men A sample of letters was taken from 24 newspapers published over a four month period in 1982. The newspapers, although non-random, include a range of medium to large circulations across the country. All letters were coded for theme, reference to authority, tone, and the occurrence of mobilizing information.

Mobilizing information has been defined as information that allows people to act on attitudes they already have.

The findings of this study indicate that of those letters published men wrote twice as often as women, while women were more positive in their outlook. Women tended to write more on a local level than men, while men wrote more about issues on a national level. Other differences noted were that women used personal pronouns more frequently than men, and women referred to good news more often whereas men referred to bad news more often. The issues most frequently addressed by both sexes were politics, war/defense, public services, economics, and the media. The rank order of the issues illustrates slight differences between the sexes, of mobilizing information was less than 10 percent.

This study illustrates ways in which people use the media. The occurrence specifically newspapers, as a resource for communicating personal opinion in a public forum.