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The goal of this study was to investigate the relation between watching various types of TV programs and risk perception. Because risk perception is a complex phenomenon, we focused also on the role of personal (gender, educational level, personality) and contextual characteristics (living in a large, mid-sized, or small city) in the development of social concerns. A self-reported pen and paper questionnaire was administered to 316 Italian adults. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis to identify different groups of perceived risk causes, which revealed three factors: Violence, Politics and Economy, and Environment. We verified the relations among factors of risk perception, TV genres, and personal dimensions via structural equation modelling. Viewing News and Public Affairs was positively related to all dimensions; Films and TV series were positively related to Violence, and Reality and Variety Shows is not related to any factor of risk perception. Educational level was negatively related to all risk perception factors and to watching Reality and Variety Shows. Neuroticism was positively associated with Violence and Politics and Economy, whereas living in a large city was negatively related to Violence.

The harmful effects of objectification and self-objectification have been widely investigated, but few studies have examined factors that may predict self-objectification. This research intends to assess the protective versus risk role of sociodemographic and physical characteristics (age, BMI), psychosocial variables (self-esteem; self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism), and social factors (influence of family and friends; internalization of media standards) on self-objectification in men and women. The selfobjectification was assessed with two subscales of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale: Body Shame and Body Surveillance. Participants were 812 Italian adults of different age cohorts (age range 21–60 years; 50.7% females) recruited via a quota sampling method. Two regression models separately for males and females were performed. Results showed that mass media influence was the strongest predictor for body surveillance and body shame in both men and women, whereas gender-related patterns emerged for physical, psychological, and relational variables with age as moderator.

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