For interval variables,the number of cases and measures of central tendency(mean or median)and of dispersion(standard deviation,referred to as“s.d.”)are provided in the text,figures,or footnotes.The statistical significance of differences between means was tested using the T-test and/or an analysis of variance(ANOVA),and the strength of relationships was measured by Eta Squared(E2).When assumptions required by parametric tests could not be made,the appropriate non-parametric test was used to evaluate differences in central tendency and dispersion,e.g.Mann-Whitney(M-W)and Kolgormorov-Smirnov(K-S)as alternatives to the t-test,and Kruskal-Wallis(K-W)instead of ANOVA.In all cases,probabilities are reported in footnotes as described above.
Analytical Considerations
·The Role of Gender
It has long been accepted that,unlike newspapers,a large number of the consumer magazines published in the United States are conceived and edited to appeal to gender-specific audiences.Though some publications-typically newsmagazines,some general-interest publications,and a number of association and regional periodicals-have“joint”readerships,a majority of magazines are clearly aimed at either male or female audiences.As a matter of convention,for the purposes of this study if gender-specificity<60 percent,a magazine can be characterized as having a“joint”readership.See also the section on Methodology.
Two factors may explain the prevalence of this delineation by gender.The first,a sociocultural one,suggests that the editorial subjects covered by most conventional magazines are often of predominant interest to only one gender.As evidence-but at the risk of stereotyping-one might offer the example of males and hunting,or of women and needlecrafts.The second factor hinges on the fact that many products and services sold in the United States are segmented by gender.Moreover,this is particularly true for those products that have traditionally used magazines as national advertising vehicles.See Endnote,p141.Indeed,many of the national consumer magazines that are able to charge their advertisers the highest advertising rates(thereby implying that they offer advertisers the most desirable potential readers/customers)are gender-specific publications,e.g.the high fashion women's magazines or men's magazines focused on expensive hobbies such as private aviation.
Over the last 15 years or so,the role of gender in both the editorial positioning and advertising prospects of magazines has begun to be the object of some scholarly attention.Much ground-breaking historical research on the issue of gender in magazine readership has been the work of journalism historians,but their principal focus has been on nineteenth-century developments.See Helen Mary Damon-Moore,“Gender and the Rise of Mass-Circulation Magazines”(Ph.D.diss.,University of Wisconsin-Madison,1987),and Mary Ellen Waller,“Popular Women's Magazines,1890-1917”(Ph.D.diss.,Columbia University,1987).There was,however,an empirical benchmark study completed just over a decade ago that explored the causal relationships between the gender of audience and a number of quantitative measures applicable to magazine publishing,e.g.circulation size,frequency of publication,cover price,and price charged for advertising.See Endnote,p141.
·Sociocultural Factors
Of particular interest was the possibility of exploring to what degree a number of defining generalizations about the magazine publishing industry have continued to hold true over the last decade.These primarily include the specific business decisions(e.g.levels of circulation,cover price,advertising rates,etc.)with which the magazine industry has responded to a variety of economic pressures and the ways in which those pressures may cause magazines to continue to reflect the on-going sociocultural fractionization of American society.
For example,furthering a process that began with the rise of the special-interest magazine in the 1960s,magazines in the 1990s continued to remain highly“niched”and specialized around myriad specific leisure activities.With more available leisure time,the magazine-reading American public's interests proceeded to splinter and fractionate,leading the magazine industry to create a magazine,or at least a persona,to satiate all individual tastes.Magazines continued to reflect subtle differences among themselves while speaking to different readers with different leisure-time pursuits.The rise in not only the number of U.S.magazine readers,but also the number of magazines launched during the decade,is a testament to the eclectic and highly refined tastes among the leisure pursuits of a-by and large-economically successful populace.
Current(2000)and Baseline(1990)Data
What follows is the data that was obtained in the longitudinal study,with the 2000 results presented first,followed by the 1990 baseline results.For ease of comprehension and comparison,all of the data will be presented in a unified form,typically in a Figure Na/Figure Nb format where a=2000 and b=1990.The discussion of causes,effects,and significance follows.