John Quinn
MPhill/PhD – Media effects
12th November 2007 D.O.S. John Robertson
Review of Bernthal & Medway (2005), An Initial Exploration into the Psychological Implications of Adolescents’ Involvement with Professional Wrestling.
Summary
This study, in response to the growth in popularity of TV wrestling (which, by 2004 was in a period of decline) aimed to discuss the implications of consuming such violence on children. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:232) The study utilised 121 male participants aged 10 to 17, gathering data on their; level of involvement with wrestling, aggressive response to shame, school maladjustment, and level of self esteem/ sense of inadequacy, by means group surveys and questionnaires in the classroom environment. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:232-234)
The study provided results that suggested that children with a higher rate of involvement with wrestling (those children who not only consume TV wrestling programming, but also consume TV wrestling’s ancillary consumer products, imitate TV wrestlers’ actions and language, and whish to incorporate wrestling to their school syllabus (Bernthal & Medway 2005:241)) exhibit; a higher degree of aggressiveness, a moderately higher degree of school maladjustment, a higher degree of clinical maladjustment, and exhibit lower self esteem, than those children with a lesser rate of involvement. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:235) Nonetheless, the results from the analysis of data indicated that the levels of each of the dependant measures targeted by the study, fell comfortably inside the average limits, and did not indicate clinical maladjustment. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:235)
The development of wrestling’s content, namely its themes, when compared to that of amateur wrestling, were seen by the researchers as potentially detrimental to the well being of children. Furthermore, the discussion suggested that themes such as violence, racism, and winning by any means necessary, when represented through the medium of professional wrestling, are especially dangerous to children, as they have difficulty differentiating reality from fact. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:236) Interestingly, the discussion continues to propose that the data from the study suggests increased clinical maladjustment in children preoccupied with TV wrestling, yet refuses to conclude that wrestling involvement results in negative outcomes in children, instead suggesting only an association. This notwithstanding, the study then postulates that future studies may find that total immersion in the TV wrestling culture is particularly harmful for children, as compared to television consumption alone.
Attention is paid, throughout the discussion, to the moral value of the messages offered by the ancillary products of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE), in relation to the psychological development of adolescents, suggesting that this increases the potential harm of TV wrestling as compared to cartoon violence. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:238) The researchers also suggested that their study concurred with earlier research, suggesting that wrestling involvement is associated with school problems and risk taking, and further proposed that schools should distance themselves form WWE, as educators are most likely are ignorant to the potential damage that may arise from immersion in WWE culture. The authors suggest the use of specific educational media to tackle the problem of wrestling’s relationship to wider violence in society. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:238-239)
Discussion
This article, intended to discuss the psychological implications of wrestling consumption on children, to the ends of alerting ignorant educators to the potential harm caused by such consumption; however it is possible to suggest that the article failed in its intentions by evaluating the evidence provided. To begin, the authors make reference to a high degree of ignorance regarding the content of wrestling amongst educators in the U.S.; yet do not provide any empirical evidence supporting this assumption, furthermore the sample consisted entirely of males to the exclusion of females, which is unrepresentative of the TV wrestling audience demographic exposed in the 2001 ITC study on audience perceptions of TV wrestling (ITC 2001:8-14).
Some indicators of inaccurate data occur early in the article, such as the categorisation of WWE Smackdown! as a
Whereas the study intended to examine the potential negative psychological effects of adolescents involvement with wrestling culture (Bernthal & Medway 2005:230), it is possible to suggest that the study does the reverse and examines the potential of adolescents encumbered by negative psychological positions, to have a tendency toward involvement with the pro wrestling culture. This postulation is derived from the inability of the data to suggest that pro wrestling consumption is the cause of school mal-adjustment, aggressiveness, and perceived inadequacy, rather, suggesting only that there is an association between the most avid consumers and heightened negative psychological effects. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:231) Could one not in the same vein suggest therefore, that such consumers bring existing problems with them to the consumption of wrestling culture, a point which the study touches upon itself (Bernthal & Medway 2005:231), and that the narrative form of wrestling may be a symptom of their condition.
As discussed in the summary above, the article suggests that pro wrestling has changed vastly in terms of its thematic orientations over the last twenty years, in comparison to amateur wrestling (Bernthal & Medway 2005:236), and acknowledges, all-be-it inconsistently, wrestling’s status as entertainment as opposed to sport. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:225) Yet the discussion fails to mention the related thematic changes across the rest of TV entertainment, such as the similarities mentioned by Tamorini et al. (2005), preferring to contrast professional wrestling with a sport that it intentionally distanced itself form. This comparison may seem valid if it is intended to highlight to someone who may be ignorant of the change in direction of wrestling, the new narrative format of the spectacle, but seems inappropriate in so far as highlighting the genre as a particular threat. It is possible to make such a suggestion as the study itself purports that wrestling fans enjoy wrestling as it is ‘sheer entertainment’ (Bernthal & Medway 2005:226) and therefore do not see it as sport. As such, to truly evaluate the potential damage TV wrestling may cause should one not contrast the thematic content of TV wrestling with other entertainment TV content?
Another point the article makes, which is echoed in the Tamborini et al. article (Tamborini 2005:217), is that children have difficulty in differentiating fantasy from fact, yet again, unlike Tamborini et al., the article does not support this position with evidence. Therefore it is possible to look to the ITC report, which suggests that the majority of TV wrestling viewers (even young children) can interpret wrestling as fantasy, as contradictory evidence. (ITC 2001 P:12) The article further suggests that due to the rapid physical and social changes that occur during adolescence, the vulnerable proportion of the wrestling audience may be morally corrupted by unsuitable messages in WWE merchandising. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:238) Here Bernthal and Medway seem to take a somewhat subjective view of what constitutes acceptable product content, while it is possible that many parents may find some WWE slogans morally unacceptable, no evidence is presented as to whether they do or don’t.
Throughout the article, reference is made to the theoretical position that a preoccupation with professional wrestling culture is harmful (Bernthal & Medway 2005:236), yet the article does clearly set out just what constitutes a preoccupation, other than the point system for measuring wrestling involvement mentioned in the methodology. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:226) While this point system can be seen to measure an individual’s involvement with professional wrestling, it does not appear to indicate the level to which the individual is preoccupied with professional wrestling, as it fails to draw comparisons between the level of involvement with wrestling as opposed to other forms of leisure, entertainment and sport.
By far the most concerning issue raised by the study, is its inconsistency over the existence of clinical maladjustment related to wrestling consumption. When reporting the results, Bernthal and Medway suggested that children more involved with professional wrestling exhibited more clinical maladjustment (Bernthal & Medway 2005:235), yet concluded later in the same paragraph that the behavioural levels exposed in the study in no way reached those of clinical maladjustment. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:235) Nonetheless, in their discussion of the results on the next page, Bernthal and Medway stated that the data showed that heightened wrestling involvement was associated with increased clinical maladjustment, making it clear one paragraph later however; that this association is not conclusive of cause. (Bernthal & Medway 2005:236)
In short the article appears to suggest a correlation between heightened wrestling viewing and some negative psychological traits, but in no clear way suggests a cause for these traits, yet still concludes that those with a duty of care towards adolescents should distance them from the products of the WWE.
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Bethnal, M. & Medway, F. (2005) An Initial Exploration into the Psychological Implications of Adolescents’ Involvement with Professional Wrestling. School Psychology International [Online] Vol.29 p.224 Available: InfoTrac [28 October 2007]
Independent Television Commission (ITC) (2001) WRESTLING: How do audiences perceive TV and video wrestling? [Online]
Tamborini, R. et al. (2005). The Raw Nature of Televised Professional Wrestling: Is the violence a cause for concern? Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media [Online] Vol. 49 (2) p. 202. Available: InfoTrac [28 October 2007]
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