Family image in popular TV series watched by high school teens: The example of Sakarya

The research aims to evaluate the family image presented in the popular TV series among high school students through the facts that may be risk factors for the family institution. In the first part, the factors that may pose a risk for the family institution were determined by making use of the empirical researches. In the second part, four serials that are popular among high school youth, among the most consumed contents of mass media, were determined and these four serials were investigated as risky phenomena that affect family image and family institution, based on divorce, common-law (pre-marital) partnerships, fragmentation of privacy, devaluation of marriage and hooking up culture. Gerbner's cultivation theory and McCombs and Shaw's agenda setting theory were used in the analysis. In the study, which used quantitative and qualitative research methods, the potential of mass media and TV series to affect society has been revealed in the context of mass media impact theories. In order to determine popular TV series among high school students, a questionnaire was prepared and applied to high school students. The questionnaire form was applied to 390 people and four popular series were determined among high school students. Thematic content analysis was applied to four serials over the cases that could pose a risk for the family institution. The findings obtained as a result of the content analysis were interpreted with analytical generalizations according to Gerbner's cultivation theory and McCombs and Shaw's agenda setting theory. TV series, which are popular among high school students, cultivate to the minds of high school students the facts that harm the family institution according to the cultivation and agenda setting theories, and construct their agendas based on their sociologically objectionable content. The family image presented by the TV series gives an image where common-law unions are experienced a lot, the characters live together before getting married and divorce easily, privacy is ignored and marriage is devalued. As a result, popular TV series among high school students negatively affect the family perception of high school students and the family image in their minds.