Jane D. Brown

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

OBJECTIVE. To assess over time whether exposure to sexual content in 4 mass media (television, movies, music, and magazines) used by early adolescents predicts sexual behavior in middle adolescence. METHODS. An in-home longitudinal survey of 1017 black and white adolescents from 14 middle schools in central North Carolina was conducted. Each teen was interviewed at baseline when he or she was 12 to 14 years old and again 2 years later using a computer-assisted self interview (audio computer-assisted self-interview) to ensure confidentiality. A new measure of each teen’s sexual media diet (SMD) was constructed by weighting the frequency of use of 4 media by the frequency of sexual content in each television show, movie, music album, and magazine the teen used regularly. RESULTS. White adolescents in the top quintile of sexual media diet when 12 to 14 years old were 2.2 times more likely to have had sexual intercourse when 14 to 16 years old than those who were in the lowest SMD quintile, even after a number of other relevant factors, including baseline sexual behavior, were introduced. The relationship was not statistically significant for black adolescents after controlling for other factors that were more predictive, including parental disapproval of teen sex and perceived permissive peer sexual norms. CONCLUSIONS. Exposure to sexual content in music, movies, television, and magazines accelerates white adolescents’ sexual activity and increases their risk of engaging in early sexual intercourse. Black teens appear more influenced by perceptions of their parents’ expectations and their friends’ sexual behavior than by what they see and hear in the media.

X-Rated Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors Associated With U.S. Early Adolescents' Exposure to Sexually Explicit Media

Correlates of use and subsequent sexual attitudes and behaviors predicted by exposure to sexually explicit content (i.e., pornography and erotica) in adult magazines, X-rated movies, and the Internet were examined in a prospective survey of a diverse sample of early adolescents (average age at baseline = 13.6 years; N = 967). Two-thirds (66%) of males and more than one-third (39%) of females had seen at least one form of sexually explicit media in the past year. At baseline, being black, being older, and having less-educated parents, lower socioeconomic status, and high need for sensation were related to greater exposure for both males and females. Longitudinal analyses showed that early exposure for males predicted less progressive gender role attitudes, more permissive sexual norms, sexual harassment perpetration, and having oral sex and sexual intercourse two years later. Early exposure for females predicted subsequently less progressive gender role attitudes, and having oral sex and sexual intercourse. Implications for healthy sexual socialization are discussed.

Transitions Into Underage and Problem Drinking: Developmental Processes and Mechanisms Between 10 and 15 Years of Age

Numerous developmental changes occur across levels of personal organization (eg, changes related to puberty, brain and cognitive-affective structures and functions, and family and peer relationships) in the age period of 10 to 15 years. Furthermore, the onset and escalation of alcohol use commonly occur during this period. This article uses both animal and human studies to characterize these multilevel developmental changes. The timing of and variations in developmental changes are related to individual differences in alcohol use. It is proposed that this integrated developmental perspective serve as the foundation for subsequent efforts to prevent and to treat the causes, problems, and consequences of alcohol consumption.

Mass media influences on sexuality.

The mainstream mass media (television, magazines, movies, music, and the Internet) provide increasingly frequent portrayals of sexuality. We still know relatively little about how this content is used and how it affects sexual beliefs and behaviors. The few available studies suggest that the media do have an impact because the media keep sexual behavior on public and personal agendas, media portrayals reinforce a relatively consistent set of sexual and relationship norms, and the media rarely depict sexually responsible models. More longitudinal research, especially with early adolescents is needed to learn more about how media content is attended to, interpreted, and incorporated into developing sexual lives.

A Social Media-Based Physical Activity Intervention A Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND Online social networks, such as Facebook™, have extensive reach, and they use technology that could enhance social support, an established determinant of physical activity. This combination of reach and functionality makes online social networks a promising intervention platform for increasing physical activity. PURPOSE To test the efficacy of a physical activity intervention that combined education, physical activity monitoring, and online social networking to increase social support for physical activity compared to an education-only control. DESIGN RCT. Students (n=134) were randomized to two groups: education-only controls receiving access to a physical activity-focused website (n=67) and intervention participants receiving access to the same website with physical activity self-monitoring and enrollment in a Facebook group (n=67). Recruitment and data collection occurred in 2010 and 2011; data analyses were performed in 2011. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS Female undergraduate students at a large southeastern public university. INTERVENTION Intervention participants were encouraged through e-mails, website instructions, and moderator communications to solicit and provide social support related to increasing physical activity through a physical activity-themed Facebook group. Participants received access to a dedicated website with educational materials and a physical activity self-monitoring tool. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome was perceived social support for physical activity; secondary outcomes included self-reported physical activity. RESULTS Participants experienced increases in social support and physical activity over time but there were no differences in perceived social support or physical activity between groups over time. Facebook participants posted 259 times to the group. Two thirds (66%) of intervention participants completing a post-study survey indicated that they would recommend the program to friends. CONCLUSIONS Use of an online social networking group plus self-monitoring did not produce greater perceptions of social support or physical activity as compared to education-only controls. Given their promising features and potential reach, efforts to further understand how online social networks can be used in health promotion should be pursued. TRIAL REGISTRATION This study is registered at clinicaltrials.govNCT01421758.

Invisible Power: Newspaper News Sources and the Limits of Diversity

^ The last broad-based, systematic assessment of news source diversity was published by Sigal 10 years ago. • Culbertsons study of the veiling of news sources is almost as old.^ In the meantime, not only has the theoretical debate become more lively and more sophisticated, but substantial changes have taken place in the poUtical, organizational and commercial environments of the news industry. These changes call for general recalibration, on the order of Sigals and Culbertsons studies, regarding the nature and extent of diversity of news sources and news channels.

The influence of three mass media campaigns on variables related to adolescent cigarette smoking: results of a field experiment.

BACKGROUND This paper reports findings from a field experiment that evaluated mass media campaigns designed to prevent cigarette smoking by adolescents. METHODS The campaigns featured radio and television messages on expected consequences of smoking and a component to stimulate personal encouragement of peers not to smoke. Six Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the Southeast United States received campaigns and four served as controls. Adolescents and mothers provided pretest and posttest data in their homes. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The radio campaign had a modest influence on the expected consequences of smoking and friend approval of smoking, the more expensive campaigns involving television were not more effective than those with radio alone, the peer-involvement component was not effective, and any potential smoking effects could not be detected.

Television and adolescent sexuality

Existing studies of the sexual content of television programming and advertising and the effects of this content on adolescent viewers are reviewed. Content studies show that the frequency of sexual references have increased in the past decade and are increasingly explicit. Studies of the effects of this content, while scarce, suggest that adolescents who rely heavily on television for information about sexuality will have high standards of female beauty and will believe that premarital and extramarital intercourse with multiple partners is acceptable. They are unlikely to learn about the need for contraceptives as a form of protection against pregnancy or disease. Suggestions for future research and trends in television programming policies are explored.

The Influence of New Media and Family Structure on Young Adolescents' Television and Radio Use

A survey of 2,056 12- to 14-year-olds from 10 southeastern U.S. cities showed that Blacks and girls spent more time with television and radio than Whites and boys did; television use declined with age, whereas radio use increased. Access to cable television and videocassette recorders was not related to frequency of television or radio use. Lack of access to parents, either because the mother was employed or because no father was in the home, generally increased the time that adolescents spent with radio and television.

Teenage Room Culture Where Media and Identities Intersect

An adolescents bedroom is an important site for the everyday work of creating identities. What the authors have come to call room culture is both a theoretical perspective and a valuable research strategy. Theoretically, it is assumed that individuals actively and creatively sample available cultural symbols, myths, and rituals as they produce their identities. For teens, the mass media are central to this process because they are a convenient source of cultural options. Over the past 5 years, the authors have pursued this line of reasoning with a series of small-scale, primarily qualitative, studies with adolescents. They have found that getting teens to talk about their bedrooms is a productive way to establish rapport, especially around sensitive issues such as sex and alcohol use, and to understand in context who each person is in relation to the larger culture.