Adolescent Sexuality and Television
Principal Investigator: Joel W. Grube, Ph.D.

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Recently, attention has focused on the role that exposure to sexual content in the media may play in the development of adolescents' sexual attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Previous research relevant to understanding this issue, however, cannot be considered definitive. In particular, none of the available studies have used longitudinal research designs that can address whether exposure to sexual content in the media precedes changes in adolescents' sexual knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors. In order to better address this issue, we propose to undertake two closely interrelated studies of sexual content on television. Study 1 will be a content analysis of the sexual language and images in television programming. In addition to documenting the extent and nature of sexual content on television, Study 1 will also provide information to be used in developing measures of exposure for Study 2. Study 2 will be a longitudinal survey of adolescents (aged 11-16 at Wave 1) and their parents. The samples will be selected from the greater San Francisco Bay Area and from Los Angeles County using random digit dialing (RDD) methods. Study 2 will be implemented using a combination of three yearly in-home computer assisted personal interviews (CAPI) and one yearly interim mail survey. The primary objective of Study 1 is to document the nature and frequency of sexual content on television overall, by program type, and by genre. The primary objective of Study 2 is to investigate if exposure to, awareness of, and affect toward sexual content on television influences changes in adolescent sexual knowledge, expectancies, norms, intentions, and behaviors. A secondary objective of Study 2 is to test and extend a theoretical model of media effects that was developed in the context of alcohol advertising. This model specifies how the effects of exposure to media content on beliefs, knowledge, and behavior are mediated through affective and cognitive processes and how these relationships are moderated by important personal, environmental, and message variables. The overall goal of the proposed research is to ascertain if, and under what circumstances, sexually-related content in television programming predisposes young people to engage in sexual activity. This study will thus provide important information that can help guide policy and prevention efforts to reduce adolescent pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and related problems.


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