Stigma and Health, Vol 11(3), Aug 2026, 427-435; doi:10.1037/sah0000551
Mental illness depictions in the media influence public attitudes and behaviors about mental illness. Nevertheless, U.S.-based studies of media depictions and efforts to improve them have predominantly focused on English-language media. This study aimed to identify disparities in, and characterization of, mental illness depictions across Spanish- and English-language television. A 2-week composite sample of primetime Spanish-language (Telemundo and Univision) and English-language (National Broadcasting Company [NBC] and Columbia Broadcasting System [CBS]) television was randomly drawn from September 7, 2022, to September 27, 2022, in the New York City metro area. These networks represent the two Spanish- and English-language television networks with the highest viewership ratings in the region. A total of 22 television programs inclusive of mental health content were identified and systematically analyzed. Intercoder reliability, descriptive and bivariate analyses, and rate differences using total broadcasting time in the full sample and across television networks were calculated. Compared to English television, Spanish television broadcasted 0.17 fewer programs with mental health content per hour of television broadcasting (p p p