TELEVISION ROLE MODELS AND ADOLESCENT OCCUPATIONAL GOALS

Editor's Note: With this issue we begin a new section of HCR which is devoted to brief reports of research. This section is devoted to research which is designed to replicate previous work, papers which report new measures for which insufficient validity data are yet available, and studies which are meaningful but do not permit major advancement of communication theory. “Brief Reports” are held accountable for both conceptual and methodological adequacy and are reviewed by the regular HCR editorial board. Submission requires that the author provide a full-length paper for editorial review and, should the paper be accepted for publication, provide copies of the full paper to HCR readers who request same. Submission of ‘Brief Reports’ is actively encouraged by the editor. For submission guidelines, see the Fall 1978 issue of HCR (vol. 5, pp. 2–3).     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MEASURE OF PERCEIVED HOMOPHILY IN INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

This paper reports the development of a measure of perceived homophily. In both an initial investigation and in four subsequent studies employing samples from diverse populations, four dimensions of response were observed. These dimensions were labeled Attitude, Morality, Appearance, and Background. Additional results indicated that opinion leaders are perceived as more homophilous than non-opinion leaders on the dimensions of Attitude, Morality, and Background. The scales found to measure these dimensions are suggested for consideration by researchers concerned with homophily or interpersonal similarity in human communication.