NATIONAL 5 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Media Exposure

Television is the primary source of information for urban youths

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

Among the urban youths of the country, television is the most popular mass medium. According to the recently conducted Nepal Adolescents and Young Adults (NAYA) Survey of unmarried and married youths in the 14-22 age bracket, about three quarters of urban youths watch television, slightly more than one-third listen to radio and about one-fourth read a newspaper or magazine daily.

City youth :Need Positive information

The NAYA Survey on Mass Media Exposure among Urban Youth in Nepal was conducted by Dr. Shyam Thapa and Vinod Mishra. The survey indicated that four out of five youths in urban Nepal are exposed to at least one of these three media sources on a daily basis. The Internet is much less commonly used; only about one-fifth of urban youth have ever used this technology.

At a time when there is growing international concern over the rising tendency among youths of engaging in risk-taking behaviors like substance abuse (smoking, drinking, drug abuse) and pre-marital sex, the NAYA survey's findings could prove useful for the authorities. "Television can be used to educate urban youths against risk-taking behaviors," said Dr. Thapa, senior scientist at the Family Health International (FHI) and one of the co-authors of the study. According to him, NAYA survey provides the first ever base line information on youth population in the country.

The survey finds that young married men and women have much less exposure to each form of mass media than their unmarried counterparts. A higher proportion of females is exposed to television than males on a daily basis, but females have much less exposure to radio and print media. The results from a multivariate analysis of factors affecting media exposure among youths indicate that the effects of gender and marital status are largely independent of other factors, including urban locale, ethnicity, household living standard, age, education and work status. Among these factors, education has the strongest effect on youths' exposure to each specific media source.

The survey results highlight preference for radio and television programs among different groups of urban youths. It indicates that unmarried youths are more likely than their married counterparts to listen to FM radio stations. Televised news and sports programs are more popular among males, whereas televised serials (soap operas) and music programs are more popular among females.

Another significant indication of the survey is that it has found the mass media to be effective in informing urban youth about various social and health issues, such as drug addiction, HIV/AIDS, family planning, domestic violence, and girl-trafficking. Television, followed by radio, is the most common source of information about contraceptive methods and HIV/AIDS among urban youths. But the mass media, the survey says, have been unable to disseminate information on puberty and related physical changes.

"The findings of the NAYA survey could be helpful for the Nepalese policy-makers in dealing with the challenges facing the youth and adolescents of the country," said Peter Xenos, a population and health expert at the East West Center in Honolulu, at a recently organized Asian Youth At Risk conference in Taipei.

Nepalese youths face problems of early marriage. The incidence of risk-taking behavior, too, is considerable among them. In fact, Nepal has one of the highest male-female ratios of smoking prevalence among 15-19 year olds. This ratio is 3:1 for Nepal compared to 38:1 for Indonesia, 17:1 for Thailand and 9:1 for Philippines.

As such, the mobilization of media to steer the young adolescents away from risk behaviors could be a vital way of tackling this problem.