Literature Review #13: Sexual Content in Media and Adolescent Sexual Behavior

Bleakley, A. , Hennessy, M. , Fishbein, M. and Jordan, A. B. "It Works Both Ways: The Relationship Between Sexual Content in the Media and Adolescent Sexual Behavior" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, TBA, San Francisco, CA. 2009-05-24 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p172439_index.html

It Works Both Ways: The Relationship Between Sexual Content in the Media and Adolescent Sexual Behavior
by Amy Bleakley, Martin Fishbein, Michael Hennessy, and Amy Jordan

Summary:
"There is considerable interest in how sexual content in the media influences adolescent sexual behavior. Current research paradigms focus on exposure to sexual content as a precursor to sexual behavior. That is, our theoretical models presume that exposure precedes behavior. It is plausible, however, that there is a reciprocal relationship between sexual content exposure and sexual behavior. Does exposure to sex in the media cause adolescents to become more sexually active, or do adolescents interested in sex expose themselves to sex in the media? Longitudinal data analysis is not sufficient to address this question since the processes might be simultaneous in nature. Thus results from non-recursive regression analyses (3 stage least squares analysis) on survey data collected from a convenience sample of adolescents ages 14-16 (n=457) indicate that the relationship between sexual content exposure and sexual behavior is simultaneous."

-D.Ha