The Media Scapegoat and Mom’s Mouth

Abstract

Swearing acceptance as a function of media and family influences was examined among 763 college students from a large southeastern public research university. Participants completed an online questionnaire and answered a series of questions related to their personality characteristics, religiosity, and swearing histories and attitudes. Participants reported being most frequently exposed to swearing from their mothers followed by media sources. Swearing acceptance varied as a function of the Big Five personality characteristics as well as religiosity. The extent to which media and family influences related to swearing acceptance through potential mediating factors of personality characteristics and religiosity was assessed with structural equation modeling. Overall, the model was able to explain some of the relationship between media and family influences and the swearing acceptance of participants.