19

Sex on Television

A Review of Socialization Effects and the Role of Context and Individual Differences

Kirstie M. Farrar

Social Importance

Research has established that exposure to television portrayals can influence social behavior, both in children and adults. For example, numerous studies indicate that depictions of television violence can increase aggressive behavior among viewers (see Chapters 4, 10, and 18, this volume). Attention to the effects of sexual content in the media on audience members is more recent and the growing body of empirical literature on this topic suggests that several different types of effects are likely to occur. Adolescence is a crucial time for sexual development and sexual identity exploration. Therefore, our focus here is mainly on adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18. However, some of the relevant research reviewed does include slightly older or younger samples.

This chapter will review the evidence linking the media to sexual socialization effects. The role of the context of a sexual portrayal in the effects process will be discussed. The importance of gender and race in the effects process will also be highlighted and potential positive effects of sexual content in the media will also be discussed.

The United States continues to have a much higher teenage pregnancy rate than other industrialized nations and over half of new cases of sexually transmitted infections in 2000 were among young people aged 15 to 24 (Weinstock, Berman, & Cates, 2004). These statistics are not surprising given that only two in three teens report using condoms every time they have sexual intercourse and only 30% report always using protection during oral sex (NBC News/People Magazine, 2005). Although sexual behavior is developmentally normative for adolescents, research has found that most sexually active teens express regret that they didn't wait longer to become sexually active (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2002). Additionally, research shows that the younger adolescents are when they initiate sexual intercourse, the more at risk they are for outcomes such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unplanned teen pregnancies (Abma & Sonenstein, 2001). Clearly young people are not consistently practicing safe sex and, given the public health implications of this behavior, it is important to understand what factors play a role in the sexual socialization of young people.

Sexual Socialization

Many factors come into play in the sexual socialization of youth. Parents, friends, and school are all sources that may contribute to the sexual education of adolescents. However, it appears that young people may not actually get much information from these important sources of socialization. Many teens report that they don't talk with their parents about sex. A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 56% of sexually active teens reported never having talked with their parents about sex. More than half of all sexually active teens also reported never talking with healthcare providers about STIs or contraception and they also report that sexual education doesn't prepare them to talk about sex (KFF, 2002). It is increasingly evident that the mass media may also play an important role in this process as well. Why might we expect sexual socialization effects to occur from mass media exposure?

First, young people spend a good deal of time engaged in some form of media use. Recent work by Rideout, Foehr, and Roberts (2010) reports that children between the ages of 8 and 18 watch approximately four and a half hours of television daily, spend an hour and a half on the computer and about 30 minutes with print media. Second, sexual messages are extremely prevalent in all forms of mass media. Several large-scale content analyses of television conducted over the last decade by Kunkel and colleagues have found that sexual content occurs in approximately 70% of shows on television (see Kunkel, Eyal, Finnerty, Biely, & Donnerstein, 2005). Talk about sex occurs in 68% of programs and 35% of programs include some form of sexual behavior with portrayals of sexual intercourse occurring in more than 1 out of 10 television programs. Kunkel et al. (2005) also analyzed the top 20 programs viewed by adolescents aged 12 to 17 in 2004 according to Nielsen data. They found that 70% of the shows heavily watched by teens feature some sexual content and these shows average just over six scenes per hour of sexual talk or behavior. Just about one out of every two programs watched by teens contained sexual behavior, and 8% of these shows include sexual intercourse. Unfortunately, messages about safe and healthy sexuality are rare in the television landscape. In fact, the Kunkel et al. (2005) study found that only 4% of scenes with sexual content had any mention of sexual risk or responsibility. Only 5% of scenes with sexual content in teens' favorite programming mention sexual health issues. Additional work by Pardun, L'Engle, and Brown (2005) found a similar pattern for other media that adolescents use. Sexual content was frequent in movies, music, magazines and Internet sites yet explicitly healthy messages about sexuality were rare. Clearly young people are being exposed to a great deal of sexual content in the media yet it is important to note that they are not seeing many messages about safe and healthy sexuality.

Also missing from much of the television young people watch are messages about homosexuality. Recent content analytic work by Fisher et al. (2007) found that portrayals or discussion of gays, lesbians, or bisexuals are infrequent and stand in stark contrast to the previously mentioned prevalence of heterosexual content found on television. They found that only 15% of shows in their sample of more than 2,700 programs featured at least one instance of talk about sex or sexual behavior related to gays, lesbians or bisexuals.

Given the frequency and accessibility of sexual messages, socialization effects regarding sexuality are likely. As mentioned, young people may have an information gap when it comes to learning about sexuality. It's not surprising that the media may fill this gap as one of the most readily available alternatives. Young people may also find the media an attractive source for sexual information because they can observe characters dealing with sexual situations and dilemmas about which they may have questions but be too embarrassed to ask. For gay and lesbian youth, however, there is an extreme lack of role models to help fill their information needs. Overall, however, media messages are designed to be as appealing and engaging as possible and can be a very forthright source of sexual information. In some cases, young people rank the media as their top source of information about sexuality (Kaiser Family Foundation & Children Now, 1997).

Brown, Childers, and Waszak (1990) suggest that young people use the information provided in the media to learn sexual and romantic scripts. They can learn how, and when, it is appropriate to ask someone for a date and what precautions, if any, people should take if they are going to have sexual intercourse. Television, through its themes, storylines, characterizations, and dialogue, provides insight into these common sexual scripts in our society (Kunkel et al., 2005; Roberts, 1980). Notably, this is an aspect of social behavior to which young people otherwise may have relatively limited exposure. We now turn to an explication of some theories that shed light on the media's role in the sexual socialization process. Social learning/cognitive theory and cultivation are two theoretical perspectives that can help illuminate the ways in which sexual content in the media may influence young people.

Theoretical Perspectives

According to social learning theory, modes of response are learned through direct or indirect observation of models, including those presented in the media (Bandura, 1971). Viewers can learn “appropriate” behaviors by observing which televised behaviors are rewarded and which are punished. Implicit in this theory is the assumption that human behavior is guided by a desire for rewards. Therefore, the theory predicts that people will be more likely to emulate the behavior of others when those models are rewarded for their behavior. Research also suggests that, at least in the realm of violence and aggression, modeling is nearly as likely when the behavior is unaccompanied by any consequences – either positive or negative – as when it is rewarded (Bandura, 1977). Brown and Steele (1995) argue that “the theory would predict that teens who spend more time watching television programming that includes graphic demonstrations of attractive characters who enjoy having sexual intercourse with each other and rarely suffer any negative consequences will be likely to imitate the behavior” (p. 22). This is the predominant pattern of sexuality that is portrayed in the media so modeling effects seem likely.

In later iterations of his theory, Bandura (1994) focuses on the interaction between cognitive processes and environmental influences. One important cognitive factor is perceived self-efficacy, or people's beliefs about their ability to successfully produce certain behaviors. Bandura (1994) has shown that perceived self-efficacy can influence the behaviors that we choose to enact. We are more likely to model sexual behaviors we see in the media if we believe we have the ability to enact those behaviors. Research has shown that safe-sex efficacy, for example, is an important predictor of adolescent sexual behavior (Dilorio et al., 2001; Taris & Semin, 1998). Given that the media can lead to the perception that “everyone” is having sex and that negative outcomes are rare, it seems likely that the media could enhance sexual self-efficacy and encourage the modeling of sexual behavior as it may seem “easy” and unlikely to result in negative outcomes.

Additionally, contextual cues found in the media presentation such as the salience, attractiveness, and functional value of the modeled behavior are important. These cues seem especially relevant to sexual behavior as many young people don't have that much experience in this area and are interested in learning more as they anticipate their entry into the world of adulthood and “adult” behaviors. In addition, audience members are more likely to attend to, and learn from, models they perceive to be attractive. Many of the characters shown engaging in sexual intercourse on television are young adults and teenagers (Kunkel et al., 2005). These are characters adolescents are likely to find attractive and perceive as similar to themselves and this could increase the likelihood that they will model the behavior that they see especially since it is salient and perceived to have high functional value for adolescents.

Cultivation theory (see Gerbner et al., 1994; Chapter 2, this volume) predicts that heavy television viewers will, over time, come to perceive the world as portrayed on television as an accurate depiction of reality. Television is a powerful storyteller in our culture and it continually repeats the myths and ideologies which legitimize our social order and define our world (Gerbner et al., 1994). If unmarried couples are frequently depicted as engaging in sexual intercourse, cultivation theory would predict that young people who watch a lot of television would come to see unmarried intercourse as a cultural norm. Collins et al. (2004) argue that the prevalence of and emphasis on sexual content on television could create the illusion that sex is more central to daily life than it typically is for most people. In turn, this cultivation effect could contribute to sexual initiation among young people who believe that “everyone is doing it.” Indeed, Brown et al. (2006) found the perception that one's peers are having sex to be one of the strongest predictors of early initiation of sexual intercourse.

Cultivation theory has been well supported in several areas of television content, especially television violence. What types of “facts” about sexual behavior would emerging adults who watch heavy amounts of television be likely to internalize? Based on the findings of Kunkel et al. (2005) discussed above, several likely patterns emerge. First, sex is very common. Most characters on television talk about sex frequently as well as often engage in sexual behaviors. Most people who have sexual intercourse are not married to one another yet they usually don't take any precautions to prevent unwanted pregnancies or sexually-transmitted diseases. Despite this lack of precautionary measures, most characters rarely experience any negative outcomes from their sexual behavior. Heavy television viewers may come to believe that sex is a common and important topic of conversation; that everyone is having sex; and that responsible sexual behaviors are not important or are unnecessary as negative outcomes are unlikely. The findings of Tolman, Kim, Schooler, and Sorsoli (2007) also suggest that heavy viewers may see homosexuality as abnormal or exceptionally rare given its infrequent portrayal.

In summary, both social learning theory and cultivation suggest that media depictions of sexuality can have an effect on adolescents. They can learn scripts for sexual behavior as well as cultivate attitudes about appropriate sexual behavior and social norms. They may also model the behaviors they see on the screen. Unfortunately, they are not likely to model safer sex behaviors as these are rarely emphasized in the media landscape. These theoretical perspectives suggest that effects are likely. However, in order to determine if televised depictions of sexuality actually do have an effect a review of the direct empirical research addressing this issue is in order.

Empirical Research

A growing body of literature, both correlational and experimental, on the effects of sexual content in the media suggests several types of likely sexual socialization outcomes. These include cognitive outcomes, effects on attitudes, effects on sexual expectations, attributions and perceptions of social norms and, more recently, evidence of behavioral outcomes.

A significant body of literature demonstrates that attitudes towards sex and sexuality can be impacted by media portrayals. Several studies have shown that exposure to certain types of portrayals can be linked to increased acceptance of stereotypical attitudes towards sex. For example, students exposed to sexual and sexist music videos later offered a stronger endorsement of stereotypical attitudes towards sex than did those students not exposed to such content (Greeson & Williams, 1986). Ward (2002) also found that young women exposed to prime time television images endorsing stereotypical sexual schemas such as the sexual objectification of women or dating as a game, later offered stronger support for these stereotypes than did young women not exposed. Greater exposure to sexually oriented genres such as soap operas has also been linked to more stereotypical attitudes towards sex in some instances but not in others (see Ward, 2003). In their experimental work, Bryant and Rockwell (1994) found that exposure to sexual scenes from prime time television led to an increase in the acceptance of sexual improprieties (e.g., extramarital affairs) among teenagers in their study.

Exposure to sexual content has also been linked to attitudes towards one's own sexual status and experience. For example, Courtright and Baran (1980) found evidence of a cultivation effect when they noted that frequent TV viewers were less satisfied with their own sexual experiences and had more negative attitudes toward remaining a virgin.

Finally, it appears that exposure to messages related to safe sex can impact young people's attitudes toward condom use. Farrar (2006) conducted an experiment using college students and found that women exposed to prime time dramas featuring sexual intercourse and mentions of condom use later had more positive attitudes about safe sex and condom use compared to women who saw intercourse with no mention of condoms or safe sex, or the control group. These effects did not emerge for men (an interesting trend which will be discussed later).

Television has also been shown to affect broader normative beliefs about sex (see Buerkel-Rothfuss & Strouse, 1993). In other words, sexual content in the media can influence our beliefs about what we think other people believe and how they behave.

Evidence for cultivation effects is strong and a consistent association between viewing amounts and viewers' perceptions of sex has been demonstrated in several studies (Ward, 2003). Media may function as a sort of “super peer” and contribute to the sense regarding sex that “everyone is doing it.” In particular, studies have demonstrated that more frequent exposure to more sexually oriented genres such as soap operas or music videos is linked to one's assumptions about the prevalence of sex and certain types of sexual behaviors typically seen in those genres (e.g., Buerkel-Rothfuss & Strouse, 1993; Ward, 2002). For example, undergraduate students who were more frequent soap opera viewers tended to give higher estimates of the number of people who get divorced, engage in extra-marital affairs or have children out of wedlock compared to less frequent viewers of soap operas (Buerkel-Rothfuss & Mayes, 1981). Tolman et al. (2007) reported that, for girls, increased exposure to sexually objectified women and portrayals of men avoiding commitment led to decreases in perceptions of sexual agency. Fisher et al. (2009) found that teens that most often viewed sexually suggestive broadcast and cable shows were less likely to believe that sex would result in health problems. Martino, Collins, Kanouse, Elliott, and Berry (2005), in their longitudinal study of adolescents, also found that exposure to sex on television was significantly related to prosex norms and to fewer negative outcome expectancies. These findings make sense because, as mentioned above, negative health outcomes of sexual behavior are very seldom portrayed on television (Kunkel et al., 2005). The relative absence of homosexual portrayals on television may also cultivate negative attitudes. Gross (1984) found that television viewing was related to having stronger negative attitudes towards gays and lesbians and this effect emerged regardless of viewers' political beliefs.

As mentioned above, many young people report actively using the media to learn about sex. In fact, empirical evidence shows that learning does take place. Young people can learn information about topics related to sexual heath from watching television. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation (1997) demonstrates clearly that young people can learn about sex and sexuality from television. More specifically, this research found that sexual health topics appearing in entertainment television shows can contribute to a substantial increase in viewers' awareness of important public health concerns. More recent research by Collins, Elliott, Berry, Kanouse, and Hunter (2003) found that adolescents who watched an episode of Friends that contained a subplot about condom efficacy and failure rates learned about condoms from watching the show. Both of these studies demonstrate that people can learn important information about sexual health from television and both will be discussed in more detail below in the section on “positive effects of sexual content.”

In the experimental realm, Greenberg, Linsangan, and Soderman (1993) demonstrated that young people can learn from sexual content presented on television. Adolescents in the experimental group (ages 15 to 16) were exposed to several short television clips (about 13 minutes) about topics such as prostitution, homosexuality, and married and unmarried sexual relations. All the clips were taken from situation comedies, prime time dramas, or soap operas. The results revealed that viewers were significantly more likely than non-viewers to have learned the meaning of several terms, such as “solicitation” and “freebie” when compared to teens in the control group that did not view the clips. These were terms that the teens did not uniformly know prior to exposure.

Effects of Media Portrayals on Sexual Behavior

Early studies on the effects of sex in the media on sexual behavior produced mixed results. Brown and Newcomer (1991) interviewed students at three different time periods (over four years) and found that having had intercourse by the third wave of data collection appeared to be related to seeking sexual content on television. In contrast, Peterson, Moore, and Furstenberg (1991) found that early exposure to television in general did not correlate with initiation of sexual intercourse a few years later. It is important to note that their measure of early television viewing was based on parental reports of their child's viewing patterns. Also the television exposure variable measured television exposure generally and did not focus on types of content known to contain sexual talk and behavior. Therefore, the viewing measure may not have accurately captured exposure to sexual content on television. Some evidence does indicate that effects on behavior could be genre specific. Strouse and Buerkel-Rothfuss (1987) report that more soap opera viewing is linked to more sexual partners and more viewing of music videos is also linked to more partners but for women only.

More recently, three longitudinal studies have found evidence for a link between sex in the media and sexual behavior. Collins et al. (2004) examined 12- to 17-year-old subjects using surveys given one year apart. Television viewing was assessed at baseline and used to predict subsequent initiation of sexual activities the following year. The authors used Nielsen data to generate a list of programs frequently watched by teens in their target sample. Teens in the study then indicated the frequency with which they watched each of the listed programs. Three episodes of each of the programs were randomly sampled and content analytic techniques developed by Kunkel et al. (2005) were applied in order to determine both the amount and specific types of sexual content found in the shows. Participants subsequently received an exposure measure derived by multiplying their self-reported viewing frequency by an indicator of the average sexual content in an episode of each program. Overall, the authors reported that “a diet of TV high in sexual content at baseline was strongly related to initiation of intercourse and advancement of noncoital activities in the following year” (p. 284). This effect held even after controlling for more than a dozen other known predictors of sexual behavior. Watching the highest amount of sexual content effectively doubled the chances of initiating intercourse at the follow up. These effects were also remarkably consistent across all demographic groups.

Brown et al. (2006) took a similar longitudinal approach but they examined the effect of sexual content in television, movies, music, and magazines on the sexual behavior of Black and White adolescents aged 12 to 14 at baseline and 14- to 16-years-old at follow up. Respondents were initially presented with a list of offerings for each of the four types of media included in the study and asked to circle those they used regularly including specific television shows, movies, magazines, and music artists. Based on the results of this initial survey the media vehicles that were attended to by more than 10% of any demographic subgroup were analyzed for sexual content. For each participant a sexual media diet (SMD) score was then computed to be the overall proportion of sexual content in their media diet across those four media during a one month period at baseline.

For White adolescents a clear linear trend emerged such that White teens with higher SMD scores had sexual intercourse earlier than those with lower SMD scores. SMD also significantly predicted precoital sexual behavior at time two, even after controlling for precoital sexual behavior at baseline. The authors note that effect sizes for White adolescents were equivalent to what has been reported for the effects of violence on television and aggression. For Black adolescents the trend in the data was less clear. The effect sizes found were much smaller for Black adolescents and those with higher SMD scores were just about as likely to initiate intercourse as those with SMD scores in the middle. In a separate analysis of the time one data, Pardun et al. (2005) report, across all racial groups, that movies and music had a much stronger relationship with sexual behavior and sexual behavior intentions at time one than did exposure to sex in television and magazines. Clearly, it is important to examine more than just television when attempting to understand adolescent sexual socialization from media.

Martino et al. (2005) used structural equation modeling to look at the longitudinal relationship between exposure to sex on television and the initiation of intercourse among an ethnically diverse sample of 1,300 adolescents aged 12 to 17. They proposed a model where perceived sexual norms, self-efficacy, and outcome expectancies would mediate the relationship between exposure to television's sexual content and the initiation of sexual intercourse. Their model indicated a direct effect of exposure on intercourse initiation that was robust across gender and ethnic groups. However, they also found that, as predicted, the effect of television was fully mediated by the social cognitive variables of perceived sexual norms, self-efficacy, and outcome expectancies. After these processes are accounted for, the effect of television sex exposure on sexual behavior initiation is near zero. Across all racial groups, viewing sex on television was related to less negative outcome expectancies about the consequences of sexual intercourse, a finding that makes sense given that negative outcomes of sex are rarely portrayed on television. Less negative expectancies were in turn related to initiating sexual intercourse. Increased exposure also predicted higher estimates of the prevalence of sexual intercourse among one's friends and these perceived norms were also related to behavior changes.

A three-wave longitudinal study by Hennessy, Bleakley, Fishbein, and Jordan (2009) analyzed the relationship between adolescent (aged 14 to 16 at baseline) sexual behavior and exposure to sexual media content over three years using growth curves. For this study, respondents' exposure to sexual media content was based on participants' own subjective rating of the amount of sexual content in each of the media titles (television, music, magazines, and videogames) they reported attending to. Their results also paint a complicated picture of the relationship between media exposure and sexual behavior. While they found changes in the amount of exposure to sexual content in the media to be predictive of changes in sexual behavior among White adolescents (similar to Brown et al.), they found little to no relationship among the Black adolescents in their sample. In fact, they found that both Black and Hispanic respondents actually evidenced a decline in the amount of sexual content they were exposing themselves to over the age range in the study. Therefore, it is possible that age 14 may be too late to capture a relationship between media exposure and behavior. The authors argue that it is possible that, by age 14, Black and Hispanic adolescents differ from White adolescents both in terms of their sexual behavior and their exposure to sexual content. This point is addressed in greater detail below in the section “Variables of Interest.”

It is also possible, according to Bleakley, Hennessy, Fishbein, and Jordan (2008) that the relationship between sexual media exposure and sexual behavior is recursive. Their longitudinal study found evidence that sexually active adolescents are more likely to expose themselves to sexual content in the media. In turn, those exposed to sexual content in the media are more likely to progress in their sexual activity. Effects of sexual content in the media on sexual socialization may not be a straightforward linear process.

All of these recent longitudinal studies suggest a relationship between sex viewed in the media and sexual behaviors among at least some subgroups of adolescents. A complicated picture emerges, however. The results of Brown et al. reinforce the importance of examining more than just television and Martino et al. illustrate how the process of sexual media effects may not always be a direct one but rather one mediated through television's ability to influence young people's perceptions of social reality. It is also important to begin examining this relationship at younger ages as there is evidence that these effects may already be solidly entrenched by age 14 in some populations (Hennessy et al., 2009). Effects may also be recursive as sexually active adolescents expose themselves to more sex in the media and this increased exposure in turn leads to sexual behavior. Since the effects of sexual content in the media do not appear to be uniform across populations we turn now to a discussion of some of the important variables that may play a role in this process.

Variables of Interest

Age, gender, race, type of medium, and viewer involvement are some of the factors that can play an important role in how adolescents are affected by sexual content in the media.

Sexual content in the media is often implied or communicated via innuendo. Age or developmental level can play an important role in whether or not young people understand or are even aware of the sexual content they are exposed to. Younger children may not understand the sexual content they are being exposed to and adolescents who have not yet reached the start of puberty may not be as interested in sexual portrayals (Brown, Greenberg, & Buerkel-Rothfuss, 1993). As mentioned above, Hennessy et al. (2009) reported that Black and Hispanic respondents showed a decline in exposure to sexual content with an increase in age and they were also at a significantly higher level of sexual activity at an earlier age compared to Whites. It may be that Black and Hispanic youth are exposed to more sexual content at young ages or that they are affected by sexual content in the media earlier than White adolescents.

Race is a particularly important variable to consider when examining the effects of sexual content in the media. Some youth are more at risk from negative outcomes of sexual behavior than others. For example, young Black men and women have significantly higher rates of STIs than other ethnic groups in the United States (CDC, 2003). Interestingly, as mentioned above, findings for Black adolescents have not been as clear-cut as they have been for White adolescents. In the longitudinal studies examining sexual behavior, effect sizes were smaller for Black youth and trends between viewing sexual content and sexual initiation were not as clear (Brown et al., 2006) while Hennessy et al. (2009) found little to no association between changes in exposure to sexual content and changes in sexual behavior among Black youth. There are several possible reasons for these differences. Some research has suggested that African Americans watch more television and interpret the sexual content differently than other races (Brown & Schulze, 1990; Roberts, Foehr, Rideout, & Brodie, 1999). Given that Black youth evidence higher levels of sexual activity at younger ages than White youth (Hennessy et al., 2009) it could be that Black youth are forming their sexual attitudes and expectations at younger ages and have already begun acting on them before the age ranges during early to mid-adolescence when much of this type of research is conducted.

Gender is another important variable that often surfaces when discussing the relationship between sexual content in the media and effects. A frequent trend is to see effects of sexual content in the media on women but not on men (Ward, 2003). Ward (2003) argues that effects are “stronger, broader, and more consistent among women than among men” (p. 367).

For example, Farrar (2006) found that portrayals of safe sex on television impacted women's attitudes towards safe sex but not men's and Ward (2002) found that young women exposed to stereotypical portrayals of sexuality in prime time television later offered stronger support for these stereotypes while men's attitudes were not affected. However, it should be noted that the longitudinal studies discussed above did not see the same discrepancies in their findings between men and women. Many studies done on attitudes or sexual expectations have either focused on particular genres of programming or have used particular television programs as stimuli in experiments. It has been suggested that men and women are attracted to very different types of media content (Greenberg et al., 1993). In addition, some suggest that men are less likely to use the media to learn about interpersonal relationships (Huston, Wartella, & Donnerstein, 1998). For men, the types of programs used in many of these studies may not be their preferred “instructors” (Ward & Rivadeneyra, 1999). Since the longitudinal studies reported above measure sexual content in the shows that men are actually watching, this may explain why findings hold true for both men and women in those studies.

While television has historically been the most researched medium regarding the effects of sexual content, some recent research suggests that it may not be the most important, at least to early adolescents. Pardun et al. (2005) found that for early adolescents it's important to analyze their movie and music preferences. In their study, television and magazines had much weaker associations with sexual behavior variables. While adolescents still spend more time with television than they do with music or movies (Rideout et al., 2010) it is possible that they perceive the latter to be more important. Movies targeted specifically towards teens, for example, often feature extensive sexual content. It is possible that the nature of music and movies allows for more frank sexual content thus contributing more strongly to sexual socialization effects. The nature of the Internet may also make it a very prominent source of sexual socialization for young people especially given that they spend approximately 90 minutes per day using a computer and most of this time is spent online (Rideout et al., 2010).

Finally, how engaged viewers are with their media can also play an important role in the effects process. In their study, Ward and Rivadeneyra (1999) found that viewer involvement was an important factor for women. Specifically, for the women in the study, stronger identification with popular television characters and reporting using television to learn about the world predicted a greater acceptance of recreational attitudes towards sex.

Context of the Media Portrayal

In addition to variables specific to the viewer, there are variables specific to the mediated portrayal itself that can influence whether and/or what types of media effects take place. As mentioned above, social cognitive theory states that viewers are more likely to model mediated portrayals enacted by attractive characters that are rewarded for their behaviors, particularly when these behaviors are salient and perceived to have functional value. The large-scale content analyses of sex on television conducted by Kunkel et al. have consistently found that these are exactly the types of sexual portrayals young people are likely to encounter on television.

Another contextual feature that is particularly important in the realm of sexual content is whether or not the portrayal also includes any mention or depiction of important sexual health topics or topics related to sexual risks or responsibilities. We know from Kunkel et al. (2005) that these types of portrayals are exceedingly rare on television and from Pardun et al. (2005) that they are rare in movies, music, Internet sites, and magazines viewed by young people. This is unfortunate given that several studies suggest that exposure to this type of content can have positive effects on adolescents. Farrar (2006) found that exposure to messages about condom use increased college-aged women's positive attitudes about safe sex. Collins et al. (2004) found that African Americans in their study with high levels of exposure to portrayals of sexual risks and responsibilities were less likely to have intercourse at the second wave of data collection. Conversely, the fact that sexual behavior as portrayed on television virtually never has any negative consequences can have a negative effect on viewers, as demonstrated by the finding that viewing sex on television has been associated with holding fewer negative outcome expectancies for the consequences of sexual intercourse. In turn, holding fewer negative expectancies was then related to the initiation of sexual intercourse (Martino et al., 2005).

Positive Effects of Sexual Content in the Media?

When most people think of media effects, they are thinking about negative or harmful effects. As shown above, sexual content in the media certainly contributes to some negative outcomes among adolescents such as early initiation of sexual behavior, unrealistic perceptions about the consequences of sex, or skewed perceptions about the prevalence of different types of sexual activities. However, is it also possible that the media can have positive effects on young people?

The media can serve as a catalyst for sexual conversations between parents and children. Parents can be an important source of accurate sexual information for young people; however, adolescents may be too embarrassed to come to their parents with questions about sex or sexuality. A national survey of 500 adolescents conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (2002) found that 33% of 15- to 17-year-olds said that something they saw on television spurred them to talk to their parents about sex.

In addition, Collins et al. (2003) conducted a survey of adolescents aged 12 to 17 who were regular viewers of the show Friends. They were asked questions about an episode that had recently aired in which condom failure rates and resulting unintended pregnancy are discussed as part of one of the show's subplots. Their results showed that 40% of the teens watched the show with an adult and 10% of the viewers subsequently had a conversation with an adult about condom efficacy. Youths who did talk with adults about condom efficacy were more likely to report learning something about condoms from the episode and less likely to report a decrease in their perceptions of condom efficacy than viewers who did not talk with an adult. So television may indeed serve as a catalyst and provide a safe introduction for teenagers to bring up sex with their parents and these conversations can help adolescents to learn accurate information.

As mentioned earlier, there may be an information gap for young people as they are learning about sex. They may not be getting much information from school or their parents. Learning is another effect of sexual content in the media that can be positive (assuming the information learned is accurate). Young people state that they learn about sex from the media. In the KFF (2002) study mentioned above, many adolescents claim to have learned something helpful from sex on television including how to say no to uncomfortable sexual situations (60%) and how to go about talking to sexual partners about safe sex (43%). Even though these types of sexually responsible situations are not that commonly portrayed on television, they are obviously capable of having a big impact on young people when they do occur. The Collins study referenced above indicates that television can serve as a source of safe-sex information. From 10% to 17% of viewers reported learning something new about condoms from watching the Friends episode and between 15% and 31% of viewers correctly recalled that condoms are between 95% and 100% effective when used correctly. Confirmed viewers (those who were able to correctly answer questions about the other subplots from the same episode) were more likely to have retained this information six months later. While the percentages of adolescents who learned from this episode may seem small, the authors themselves note that Friends was, at the time, one of the most popular shows for 12- to 17-year-olds and the episode was initially viewed by almost two million teens and has since been rerun countless times. The potential for learning is significant. Similar findings were reported for adults in a KFF (1997) study examining a portrayal of emergency contraception in the show ER. After viewing a relatively minor reference to emergency contraception within the show, the number of adult ER viewers who knew about emergency contraception increased 17% in the week after the episode aired.

The presence of information related to sexual risks or responsibilities of sexual behavior has been shown to have other positive effects on viewers as well. Farrar (2006) conducted an experiment manipulating the context of portrayals of sexual intercourse found in popular teen dramas. One group was exposed to three episodes of different programs where couples in the shows engaged in sexual intercourse and condoms were also mentioned or depicted somewhere within each episode. Another group saw programs where couples engaged in sexual intercourse but the episodes contained no references to condoms or safe sex. The control group watched teen dramas with no sexual content. Findings revealed that women who saw the shows with intercourse and safe sex had significantly more positive attitudes about condoms and safe sex than did the women in the other two groups. It should be noted that the references to condoms within these shows were relatively minor, only occurring in one or two scenes throughout the entire episode. Safe sex was hardly the focal point of these stories and yet, these scenes had a positive impact on young people's attitudes about responsible sexuality. The more frequently these portrayals are included, the more likely it is that young people will come to see these important issues as part of the normative script for engaging in sexual behavior.

In addition to attitudes about safe sex, research also shows that the presence of messages about safe and healthy sexuality can impact adolescents' sexual behavior as well. Collins et al. (2004) found that African American adolescents who were exposed to the highest levels of sexual risk and safety portrayals were less likely to have intercourse and to progress in their noncoital sexual behaviors as well. This finding did not emerge for other races, however, and the authors suggest this as an important avenue for future research.

Conclusion

Many young people are engaging in unsafe sexual behavior, resulting in a high rate of STIs and unintended teen pregnancies. Teen pregnancies have profound effects on the young parents, the children, and on society. Teen moms are more likely to drop out of school and to live in poverty. Children born to teen moms are more likely to have a low birth weight, struggle with reading and math ability and even to drop out of high school themselves (Levine, Pollack, & Comfort, 2001; Terry-Human, Manlove, & Moore, 2005). While young people have a developmentally appropriate need to learn about sex and sexuality, many are not getting enough information from parents or from school thus creating an information gap. Research shows that adolescents engage in a good deal of media use and that this media is saturated with sexual content most of which does not contain important information about safe and healthy sexuality.

Young people say they use the media to learn about sex, and media portrayals are very attractive and salient for young people. Theories such as social cognitive theory and cultivation both suggest that effects from the media on the sexual socialization of young people are likely.

Empirical evidence in this area focuses on three main types of effects: attitudes, cognitions, and behavior. Research has shown that young people's attitudes toward sex and sexual topics can be influenced as can their perceptions about sexual norms. Young people can learn information about sex and about safe and responsible sexuality from the media. Finally, evidence from longitudinal work suggests that media diets high in sexual content can influence the initiation of sexual behavior and the advancement of other sexual behaviors. Sexual content in the media can have both positive and negative effects on young viewers, depending partly on the context within which it is portrayed. Variables such as the age, gender, and race of the viewer are also important in the effects process. Younger viewers may not be as interested in sexual content in the media or comprehend it as well. Some research also suggests that women are more affected by sexual content in the media and that different racial groups also respond differently. While the empirical evidence in this area has grown tremendously and consistently points to effects of sexual content in the media on young people, many avenues for future research remain.

Future Research

One important avenue for future research pertains to understanding how young people are interpreting sexual content in the media. What messages are they taking away? A better understanding of their interpretations might help us understand some of the differences in effects based on race that have been uncovered in some studies. It may also help us understand how younger kids are interacting with sexual content.

Research is also clearly needed on younger children, despite the inherent difficulties in conducting studies on such a sensitive topic with younger samples. It may be that effects from sexual content in the media are starting to emerge well before the ages typically studied (Hennessy et al., 2009). This may be particularly important to explore with Black and Hispanic youth who are exposed to more sexual content at younger ages and also tend to initiate sexual behavior earlier than White youth.

Research should continue to explore “edutainment” as a fruitful method of disseminating important messages about safe and healthy sexuality. If single episodes of shows like Friends and ER can impact people's beliefs about safe sex, more frequent treatment of these topics across the media consumed by young people could prove beneficial. Research could also explore what factors make these types of portrayals so successful. If factors such as engagement with characters, identification, and so on, can be identified they can then be used to craft more long-term and extensive public health campaigns aimed at encouraging young people to engage in healthier sexuality.

As mentioned, most studies conducted up to this point have focused on television. Young people spend a great deal of time immersed with other media as well, however. Brown et al. (2006) found that exposure to sex in music and movies was a more important predictor of sexual behavior than exposure to television. As the media landscape continues to grow, we need to broaden our lens and continue to explore other media.

Finally, Ward (2002) also calls for more research on viewer involvement. Many of the variables related to involvement that have been shown to play an important role in other realms of media effects (e.g., violence) have been understudied when it comes to sex. Ward suggests heightened attention to variables such as identification, perceived realism, parasocial interaction and active viewing. A research focus only on the amount of content viewed may not tell the whole story.

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FURTHER READING

Aubrey, J. S. (2006a). Effects of sexually objectifying media on self-objectification and body surveillance in undergraduates: Results of a 2-year panel study. Journal of Communication, 56(2), 366–386.

Aubrey, J. S. (2006b). Exposure to sexually objectifying media and body self-perceptions among college women: An examination of the selective exposure hypothesis and the role of moderating variables. Sex Roles, 55(3/4), 159–172.

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