ABSTRACT
Uses and gratifications is an audience-centered mass communication perspective. It assumes people actively seek media to satisfy communication needs, and research examines the reasons people use media. Early U&G studies focused on media motives and their links to behaviors, attitudes, and demographics. The 27-item Television Viewing Motives Scale used by Rubin is profiled here. This scale is adapted from Greenberg and Rubin. It takes about 5 minutes to complete, but twice as long for children. Motive dimensions have been reliable. Greenberg reported interitem correlations for his eight factors ranging from 29 to 44. Several studies provide concurrent and criterion-related validity for motive dimensions. Greenberg noted that different viewing motives relate predictably to other variables. Rubin and Perse found validity for news-viewing motives via links to news-viewing activity.
