Impact of Divorce Related Content in Pakistani TV Dramas on Marital Life of Viewers in Pakistani Society

Abstract

Television dramas have the ability to educate and influence the viewers, but it has been observed that Pakistani dramas are trending divorce in their stories. As a result of heavy viewership of these dramas, the divorce rate is increasing day by day in Pakistani society. This study attempted to find out how these dramas depict marital family issues and what impact they are producing on society. The focus of this research was divorce depicted Pakistani dramas and their effects on viewers. This research has theoretical grounds in uses and gratification and cultivation theory to examine the gratification needs and the ultimate cultivation effects in TV drama viewers. Sample of 300 married Pakistani drama viewers of Islamabad were surveyed. The study shows that 149 (49.7%) drama viewers frequently watch divorce depicted Pakistani TV dramas. Further analysis using appropriate statistical tests indicated that divorce depicted Pakistani TV dramas have cultivation effects on viewers. These dramas are popular as people love to watch them. Findings of this study indicated that divorce depicted Pakistani TV dramas has less positive and more negative effects on society as majority housewives are regular drama viewers in Pakistan and they learn family conspiracy; also, both husband and wife learn to argue from these dramas. The fantasy lifestyle depicted in these dramas make viewers materialistic. Both husband and wife demand luxuries and all these factors create marital conflicts that might end up in separation or divorce. Overall findings indicated that more exposure to divorce related content by Pakistani TV dramas create more marital conflicts as these dramas have more negative effects on viewer.