ABSTRACT
Concern about the portrayal of alcohol and other drugs on television shows is tied to the expectation that these portrayals are frequent and typically favorable. More specific concern about television’s depiction of alcohol and other drugs focuses on the potential social learning which might occur among young viewers. Young viewers are expected to be particularly vulnerable because childhood and adolescence are periods of information-seeking during which the child learns what to expect from the world and what the world expects from the child. Drinking took place in drinking scenes, rather than as background or by references to drinking; the home setting predominated, and the modal drink was straight liquor. The frequency of occurrence of alcohol acts was sufficiently large to permit an analysis of the demographic attributes of the television characters who engaged in those acts. The original analysis separated agents or offer of alcohol from targets or recipients of alcohol.
