Media Influence on Romantic Relationships

Many previous studies have found that popular media is a valuable source of information on the nature and development of romantic relationships, prompting young people to embrace cultural models of romance and sexuality. Exposure to pornographic content on TV and the internet has also been proven in studies to promote interest in the opposite sex and premarital relationships. Although there are a plethora of scales aiming to assess social media behavior in young adults, no measures directly tap into the influence of the media on romantic relationships. To address this gap, (Ganth and Kadhiravan, Interper Int J Person Rel 2017) developed a measure of media influence on romantic relationships. The initial scale was an eight-item measure involving items on the influence of media on developing romantic relationships (e.g., “I think watching movies on romantic themes can influence one’s desire for a romantic relationship”). (Ganth and Kadhiravan, Interper Int J Person Rel 2017) reported that the scale is reliable and established validity using the judge’s rating. In the present study, using a sample of 779 young adults from India, we aimed to test the factor structure and the other psychometric properties of the scale using EFA and CFA approaches. We also examined the convergent validity of the scale using scales with related constructs.