Self-Construal and Exposure to American Entertainment and News Programs Among Malaysian Youths

This study examined self-construal (self-independence/self-interdependence) of Malaysian youths,and its relationship with the exposure to American entertainment and news programs. A total of401 Malay, Chinese and Indian youths participated in the survey by completing the self-administeredquestionnaires. The results revealed that the respondents exhibited fairly balanced levels of selfinterdependence and self-independence. The Malay respondents showed somewhat a higher levelof self-interdependence than that of the Chinese and Indians. The respondents who described selfprimarily in independent, rather than interdependent term, were more likely to have a higher levelof exposure to American movies and music. Nevertheless, no significant difference was observedin the exposure to American news programs. The findings supported the contention on the role ofself-construal in explaining the variation in the consumption of American movies and music amongthe youth in a non-western country.