Os motivos que levam as pessoas a verem séries televisivas compulsivamente e a sua relação com a solidão

Abstract

The motivation for the excessive use of audiovisual content, such as watching television series or movies, is not a new phenomenon. However, with the rise of streaming platforms, this phenomenon has recently become more relevant. Thus, the theme of this studyis to understand the reasons that lead people to watch television series compulsively and their relationship with loneliness, the specific objectives included understanding the differences in motivations for watching television series concerning sociodemographic variables; to investigating the differences in motivations for watching television series according to the type and nature of the series and to establish a relationship between the reasons that lead people to watch television series and loneliness. A quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational study was carried out. A sociodemographic questionnaire and aquestionnaire related to the viewing of series (built for this purpose were used); the Portuguese adaptation of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Watching TV SeriesMotives Questionnaire original. The results obtained showed that the main motivations forthe compulsive viewing of television series were Cultural Enrichment and Emotional Improvement; the action series were the ones that stood out the most in the viewing, but, the majority of the selected sample preferred the visualization of reassuring series; drama series were the only ones that did not show statistically significant differences in differentiation and nature (stimulating or tranquillizers). Furthermore, there was a significant positive relationship between excessive viewing of television series and loneliness. In conclusion, cultural and emotional aspects are at the base of the motivation for compulsive viewing of series and this behaviour is associated with high levels of loneliness.

Date of Award	9 Dec 2022
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ângela Leite (Supervisor)