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.