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Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazines Predicts Black and White Adolescents' Sexual Behavior

NCJ Number
225499
Journal
Pediatrics Volume: 117 Dated: 2006 Pages: 1018-1027
Author(s)
Jane D. Brown; Kelly Ladin L'Engle; Carol J. Pardun; Guang Guo; Kristin Kenneavy; Christine Jackson
Date Published
April 2006
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether exposure of early adolescents to sexual content in four types of mass media (television, movies, music, and magazines) predicted sexual behavior in middle adolescence.
Abstract
The study found that White adolescents, ages 12 to 14--who had the highest level of “sexual media diet” (SMD), based on frequency of use of the four media and the frequency of the sexual content in each of the media--were 2.2 times more likely to have had sexual intercourse during ages 14-16 than those youth who had the lowest level SMD. This finding held true even after a number of other relevant factors, including baseline sexual behavior, were introduced. The aforementioned relationship was not statistically significant for Black adolescents after controlling for other factors that were more predictive of middle adolescence sexual behavior, including parental disapproval of teen sex and perceived permissive peer sexual norms. The authors advise that a number of opportunities and strategies could help reduce negative media effects on youth while enhancing positive effects, including media literacy education for parents and youth, partnerships with youth-oriented media, and physician education and intervention. Also, more research is needed in order to fully understand the link between exposure to media sexual content and adolescents’ sexual behavior. The study involved an in-home longitudinal survey of 1,017 Black and White adolescents attending 14 middle schools in central North Carolina. Each teen was interviewed at baseline when he/she was 12 to 14 years old and again 2 years later. The interview was a computer-assisted self-interview designed to ensure confidentiality. A new measure of each teen’s SMD was constructed by weighting the frequency of his/her use of four media by the frequency of sexual content in each television show, movie, music album, and magazine used regularly by each teen. 5 tables, 2 figures, and 45 references