Author:

Keywords:

sexual media, adolescence, casual sex, Social Sciences, Communication, Social Media, Pornography, Reality TV, Peers, Youth, Sexuality, SOCIALIZATION MESSAGES, PROTOTYPE PERCEPTION, REFERENCE DISPLAYS, RISK BEHAVIORS, ALCOHOL-USE, REALITY, EXPOSURE, TELEVISION, INTERNET, SELF, 2001 Communication and Media Studies, Communication & Media Studies, 3507 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour, 4701 Communication and media studies

Abstract:

The present study investigated the relationship between different types of sexual media use (i.e., sexually explicit internet material, sexually oriented reality TV and sexy self-presentations on social network sites) and adolescents’ willingness to engage in casual sex, as well as underlying social-cognitive processes of this relationship. Drawing on a longitudinal three-wave panel study among 1,467 adolescents (aged 13-17, 50% female), we found that exposure to sexually explicit internet material directly predicted adolescents’ willingness to engage in casual sex. Exposure to sexy self-presentations of others on social network sites and sexually oriented reality TV predicted adolescents’ willingness to engage in casual sex indirectly through descriptive peer norms on casual sex.