In the paper that follows I explore the topic of the relationship between sexual media exposure and sexual activity among adolescents. As resources I have utilized a website with statistics, a peer reviewed research article detailing a study, and an opinion survey which I constructed. The findings of each are summarized below in addition to addressing the required questions relation to each section.
Section I – Website Program Evaluation
The Kinsey Institute - sexuality information links - FAQ [Related Resources]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2014, from http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/resources/FAQ.html#nsshb
The group publishing this information is the Kinsey Institute which was founded by Alfred Kinsey with the intent to gain statistically accurate information regarding sexual behavior. The website is funded by grants from various universities; the primary university from which the Kinsey Institute originally began is Indiana University. I would consider this a credible source of information because all of the information and statistics listed have a study that is cited to corroborate the data presented on the website. However, a large portion of the information appeared to be outdated. Many of the studies cited were prior to 2000 and the most recent studies cited were only from 2010.
The intended audience of this website is the general public. The purpose of the Kinsey Institute is to disseminate information to the general public about sexual behavior of the population in the United States. This website contained more detailed information than the textbook and class notes regarding the average age of first coitus among adolescents based on both gender and race, the frequency of adolescent sexual activity in one year, and statistics of exposure to porn in one year, primarily among males.
This website confirmed the information contained Berk’s Development through the Lifespan in which she says that approximately half of the adolescent population has had sex. Furthermore, the website confirms the information in the text that the average age of first sex is younger for males than for females and that a significant percentage of the adolescent population has engaged in sexual activity as early as ninth grade (Berk, 2007). The Kinsey Institute listed first intercourse for 25% of males and 26% of females by age 15 (2005). The average age of intercourse for males was listed at 16.9 years and for females at 17.4 years (Kinsey Institute, 2002). By age 21 85% of males and 81% of females have had sex (Kinsey Institute, 2007).
The statistics gathered were from academic sources and this was reflected in the language of the website. Therefore, the website showed sensitivity to viewers of this topic by using correct and scientific terminology to describe sexual behaviors rather than slang, which is more offensive. The website had little room for intolerance in the information since it was simply reporting statistics and the findings of various studies that have been conducted regarding sexual behavior and activity.
I believe the information contained in this website is useful for research purposes. The Kinsey Institute began its research into sexual behavior with the goal of disseminating the information to dispel misconceptions about sexual behavior and to gather information about normative sexual behavior among various populations. I would recommend anyone interested in discovering the sexual behavior of the people in the United States to this website. This website is also useful for an introduction to the sexual behavior practices of the United States population and therefore serves as a good start to any research. Finally, this website provided a large bibliography which lists other potential sources for research and additional knowledge on the topic.
Section II – Journal Article Evaluation
Brown, J. D. (2006). Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazines Predicts Black and White Adolescents' Sexual Behavior. Pediatrics, 117(4), 1018-1027. doi: 10.1542/peds.2005-1406
This article details a longitudinal study utilizing self-reporting surveys to determine the relationship between frequency of sexual media exposure and sexual activity in early adolescents, ages 12 – 14 years. The study differentiated between the results for African American adolescents and Caucasian adolescents. The researchers chose 16 middle schools from three public school districts in North Carolina to participate in the study, 14 schools agreed to participate. All of the schools had similar racial and gender profiles, but differed in population per square mile with classifications of: urban, suburban, and rural. The participating students (n= 3261) were interviewed utilizing a self-reporting survey to determine media consumption, including television, magazines, music and movies, and health behavior at the beginning of the study to establish a baseline. After two years a second self-reporting survey was completed by participating students (n=1017). 262 respondents were African American females, 264 respondents were African American males, 243 respondents were Caucasian females and 248 respondents were Caucasian males.
The design of this study is beneficial for the topic of study since it allows for a correlational relationship to be determined between sexual media consumption and sexual activity in adolescents through studying the same group of individuals over a long period of time (Berk, 2007). As is generally seen in longitudinal studies, this study lost over half of its participants due to factors such as moving out of the school districts in the study, refused participation of students, and refused parental consent (Berk, 2007).
Results from the study demonstrated that pre-coital behavior was increased for Caucasian adolescents who also had high exposure to sexual media exposure, however once the control factors were accounted for there was no significant correlation between sexual media exposure and pre-coital behavior in African Americans. After accounting for the covariates, the study found that sexual media exposure did not significantly increase the chances of sex in African American adolescents, however high sexual media exposure was positively correlated with likelihood of sex in Caucasian adolescents. One important finding of the study was that although African Americans sexual media exposure was not correlated with their sexual activity, on average they were more sexually experienced than their Caucasian peers at the same age. The researchers surmise that perhaps the African American participants had already adjusted to the increased exposure of sexual media and had made decisions regarding sexual behavior prior to the start of the study.
The study controlled for known contributing factors to earlier sexual activity in adolescents, such as peer group influence, socioeconomic status, age of onset of puberty, religious involvement of the child and the family, parental communication and views on sex, school performance, and parental monitoring. All of these topics were discussed in class as contributors to earlier age of sexual activity. Furthermore, the study proposed that media has served as a form of sexual socialization for adolescents whose parents are not communicative about sex. The study also proposes that media might serve as a form of peer group to teens, and in this manner may affect the adolescent’s perception of the amount of their peers engaging in sex.
Over the past years there are has been a decrease in the age of first intercourse both at the national level, in the United States, and also on a worldwide level as demonstrated by the Netherlands (Berk, 2009). One factor that can be clearly identified as a contributor to earlier age of first intercourse is the earlier onset of puberty worldwide, and particularly in the United States. Although this is not proven to be causal in the decrease in average age of first intercourse it is a possible contributor. Similarly, the increased access of media outlets to adolescents, and the small amount of parental monitoring, as well as the amount of sexual content in television, contained in 80% of primetime shows (Berk, 2009), may all contribute to a decrease in the age of first intercourse among adolescents.
Section III – Opinion Survey
I created my own survey with seven questions relating to people’s opinions about the topic above. The demographics of the survey for a population of n = 63 are as follows. 60.3% of respondents were female and 39.7% were male. Of the respondents 7.93% were still at a high school education level, 53.97% were still at a college education level, 25.4% had already graduated from college, and 12.7% had either completed or some graduated school education. The distribution of the age range are as follows: 22% of respondents were 15-19, 52% were 20-29, 2% were 30-39, 17% were 50-59, and 2% were 60-69.
The questions and the responses to the questions are depicted in the graphs contained below.
1. How often do you believe adolescents view sexually explicit media on average (including explicit movies/TV, novels, music, or internet materials. Explicit means anything containing depictions or graphic descriptions of sex or nudity)?
2. How frequently do you believe adolescents engage in sexual activity on average (including oral sex, anal sex, or petting)?
3. What average age do you believe adolescents are first exposed to sexually explicit material?
4. What average age do you believe adolescents first become sexually active (including oral sex, anal sex, or petting)?
5. Race is correlated to sexual activity in adolescents.
6. Race is correlated to time exposed to sexually explicit media (including explicit movies/TV, novels, music, or internet materials).
7. High exposure to sexually explicit media is correlated to high sexual activity in adolescents.
In designing this survey the biggest problem that I encountered was defining terms. I realized that not everyone had the same idea about what constituted sex or sexually explicit, and defining these terms in a way that was clear in the questions was the most difficult task. In collecting the data from this survey I also realized that my respondents were extremely skewed in favor of people ages 20-29 years old. While I still managed to get several respondents from other age groups, none of the other age groups approached the number of participants I had who were in their twenties. I also encountered trouble collecting data from male respondents and had to issue a plea for more male respondents, my results were still skewed towards female respondents. Consequently, this survey is not representative of the opinions of the general public.
The most common answer based on the survey to the question of how often adolescents’ view explicit media was 3 – 5 times per week and 1 – 2 times per day. My research indicated that adolescents’ spend an average of 4 hours a day with exposure to various forms of media. On TV alone 80% of primetime shows contain explicit material (Brown, 2006). Based on the frequency of explicit media on primetime television it is likely that adolescents are exposed to explicit content at least 1 – 2 times per day if not more often. Survey respondents believed that adolescents engage in sexual activity an average of 1 – 2 times per week. One study showed that from a population of n = 2393, 79.8% of adolescents males ages 18 – 24 had sex an average of 2 – 3 times per week and 75.8% of females in the same age group had sex with the same frequency (Kinsey Institute, 2010). Survey respondents believed that the average age of first exposure to explicit media was 11 years or younger. Although my sources did not specifically address this question, one study did report that 42% of adolescents ages 10 – 17 years had been exposed to internet pornography and 66% of this population reported that exposure was unwanted (Kinsey Institute, 2007). Respondents to the survey reported the average age of first sexual activity to be 15 – 18 years. In my research, the average age of intercourse for males was 16.9 years and for females was 17.4 years (Kinsey Institute, 2002). Most respondents to the survey believed that race and sexual activity were correlated. My research indicated that this was true, especially in relation to age. One study reported that the average age for first intercourse among Caucasians was 16.6 years, among African Americans 15.8 years, among Asians 18.1 years, and among Hispanics 17 years (Kinsey Institute, 1998). Most respondents of the survey believed that race had no relationship to amount of sexual media exposure. My research indicated that there was a relationship. African American adolescents’ spent a larger amount of time utilizing media sources and consequently had a higher frequency of sexual media exposure (Brown, 2006). Finally, most respondents to the survey agreed that there was a positive relationship between sexual media exposure and sexual activity. Brown’s study confirmed that among Caucasian adolescents there is a positive relationship, however among African American adolescents once other variables are accounted for there was no significant relationship between sexual media exposure and sexual activity (Brown, 2006). Overall respondents were very close to the research statistics for adolescent sexual behavior.
Bibliography
Berk, L. E. (2007). Physical and cognitive development in adolescence. In Development through the lifespan (5th ed., pp. 373-378). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Brown, J. D. (2006). Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazines Predicts Black and White Adolescents' Sexual Behavior. Pediatrics, 117(4), 1018-1027. doi: 10.1542/peds.2005-1406
The Kinsey Institute - sexuality information links - FAQ [Related Resources]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2014, from http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/resources/FAQ.html#nsshb
Section I – Website Program Evaluation
The Kinsey Institute - sexuality information links - FAQ [Related Resources]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2014, from http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/resources/FAQ.html#nsshb
The group publishing this information is the Kinsey Institute which was founded by Alfred Kinsey with the intent to gain statistically accurate information regarding sexual behavior. The website is funded by grants from various universities; the primary university from which the Kinsey Institute originally began is Indiana University. I would consider this a credible source of information because all of the information and statistics listed have a study that is cited to corroborate the data presented on the website. However, a large portion of the information appeared to be outdated. Many of the studies cited were prior to 2000 and the most recent studies cited were only from 2010.
The intended audience of this website is the general public. The purpose of the Kinsey Institute is to disseminate information to the general public about sexual behavior of the population in the United States. This website contained more detailed information than the textbook and class notes regarding the average age of first coitus among adolescents based on both gender and race, the frequency of adolescent sexual activity in one year, and statistics of exposure to porn in one year, primarily among males.
This website confirmed the information contained Berk’s Development through the Lifespan in which she says that approximately half of the adolescent population has had sex. Furthermore, the website confirms the information in the text that the average age of first sex is younger for males than for females and that a significant percentage of the adolescent population has engaged in sexual activity as early as ninth grade (Berk, 2007). The Kinsey Institute listed first intercourse for 25% of males and 26% of females by age 15 (2005). The average age of intercourse for males was listed at 16.9 years and for females at 17.4 years (Kinsey Institute, 2002). By age 21 85% of males and 81% of females have had sex (Kinsey Institute, 2007).
The statistics gathered were from academic sources and this was reflected in the language of the website. Therefore, the website showed sensitivity to viewers of this topic by using correct and scientific terminology to describe sexual behaviors rather than slang, which is more offensive. The website had little room for intolerance in the information since it was simply reporting statistics and the findings of various studies that have been conducted regarding sexual behavior and activity.
I believe the information contained in this website is useful for research purposes. The Kinsey Institute began its research into sexual behavior with the goal of disseminating the information to dispel misconceptions about sexual behavior and to gather information about normative sexual behavior among various populations. I would recommend anyone interested in discovering the sexual behavior of the people in the United States to this website. This website is also useful for an introduction to the sexual behavior practices of the United States population and therefore serves as a good start to any research. Finally, this website provided a large bibliography which lists other potential sources for research and additional knowledge on the topic.
Section II – Journal Article Evaluation
Brown, J. D. (2006). Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazines Predicts Black and White Adolescents' Sexual Behavior. Pediatrics, 117(4), 1018-1027. doi: 10.1542/peds.2005-1406
This article details a longitudinal study utilizing self-reporting surveys to determine the relationship between frequency of sexual media exposure and sexual activity in early adolescents, ages 12 – 14 years. The study differentiated between the results for African American adolescents and Caucasian adolescents. The researchers chose 16 middle schools from three public school districts in North Carolina to participate in the study, 14 schools agreed to participate. All of the schools had similar racial and gender profiles, but differed in population per square mile with classifications of: urban, suburban, and rural. The participating students (n= 3261) were interviewed utilizing a self-reporting survey to determine media consumption, including television, magazines, music and movies, and health behavior at the beginning of the study to establish a baseline. After two years a second self-reporting survey was completed by participating students (n=1017). 262 respondents were African American females, 264 respondents were African American males, 243 respondents were Caucasian females and 248 respondents were Caucasian males.
The design of this study is beneficial for the topic of study since it allows for a correlational relationship to be determined between sexual media consumption and sexual activity in adolescents through studying the same group of individuals over a long period of time (Berk, 2007). As is generally seen in longitudinal studies, this study lost over half of its participants due to factors such as moving out of the school districts in the study, refused participation of students, and refused parental consent (Berk, 2007).
Results from the study demonstrated that pre-coital behavior was increased for Caucasian adolescents who also had high exposure to sexual media exposure, however once the control factors were accounted for there was no significant correlation between sexual media exposure and pre-coital behavior in African Americans. After accounting for the covariates, the study found that sexual media exposure did not significantly increase the chances of sex in African American adolescents, however high sexual media exposure was positively correlated with likelihood of sex in Caucasian adolescents. One important finding of the study was that although African Americans sexual media exposure was not correlated with their sexual activity, on average they were more sexually experienced than their Caucasian peers at the same age. The researchers surmise that perhaps the African American participants had already adjusted to the increased exposure of sexual media and had made decisions regarding sexual behavior prior to the start of the study.
The study controlled for known contributing factors to earlier sexual activity in adolescents, such as peer group influence, socioeconomic status, age of onset of puberty, religious involvement of the child and the family, parental communication and views on sex, school performance, and parental monitoring. All of these topics were discussed in class as contributors to earlier age of sexual activity. Furthermore, the study proposed that media has served as a form of sexual socialization for adolescents whose parents are not communicative about sex. The study also proposes that media might serve as a form of peer group to teens, and in this manner may affect the adolescent’s perception of the amount of their peers engaging in sex.
Over the past years there are has been a decrease in the age of first intercourse both at the national level, in the United States, and also on a worldwide level as demonstrated by the Netherlands (Berk, 2009). One factor that can be clearly identified as a contributor to earlier age of first intercourse is the earlier onset of puberty worldwide, and particularly in the United States. Although this is not proven to be causal in the decrease in average age of first intercourse it is a possible contributor. Similarly, the increased access of media outlets to adolescents, and the small amount of parental monitoring, as well as the amount of sexual content in television, contained in 80% of primetime shows (Berk, 2009), may all contribute to a decrease in the age of first intercourse among adolescents.
Section III – Opinion Survey
I created my own survey with seven questions relating to people’s opinions about the topic above. The demographics of the survey for a population of n = 63 are as follows. 60.3% of respondents were female and 39.7% were male. Of the respondents 7.93% were still at a high school education level, 53.97% were still at a college education level, 25.4% had already graduated from college, and 12.7% had either completed or some graduated school education. The distribution of the age range are as follows: 22% of respondents were 15-19, 52% were 20-29, 2% were 30-39, 17% were 50-59, and 2% were 60-69.
The questions and the responses to the questions are depicted in the graphs contained below.
1. How often do you believe adolescents view sexually explicit media on average (including explicit movies/TV, novels, music, or internet materials. Explicit means anything containing depictions or graphic descriptions of sex or nudity)?
2. How frequently do you believe adolescents engage in sexual activity on average (including oral sex, anal sex, or petting)?
3. What average age do you believe adolescents are first exposed to sexually explicit material?
4. What average age do you believe adolescents first become sexually active (including oral sex, anal sex, or petting)?
5. Race is correlated to sexual activity in adolescents.
6. Race is correlated to time exposed to sexually explicit media (including explicit movies/TV, novels, music, or internet materials).
7. High exposure to sexually explicit media is correlated to high sexual activity in adolescents.
In designing this survey the biggest problem that I encountered was defining terms. I realized that not everyone had the same idea about what constituted sex or sexually explicit, and defining these terms in a way that was clear in the questions was the most difficult task. In collecting the data from this survey I also realized that my respondents were extremely skewed in favor of people ages 20-29 years old. While I still managed to get several respondents from other age groups, none of the other age groups approached the number of participants I had who were in their twenties. I also encountered trouble collecting data from male respondents and had to issue a plea for more male respondents, my results were still skewed towards female respondents. Consequently, this survey is not representative of the opinions of the general public.
The most common answer based on the survey to the question of how often adolescents’ view explicit media was 3 – 5 times per week and 1 – 2 times per day. My research indicated that adolescents’ spend an average of 4 hours a day with exposure to various forms of media. On TV alone 80% of primetime shows contain explicit material (Brown, 2006). Based on the frequency of explicit media on primetime television it is likely that adolescents are exposed to explicit content at least 1 – 2 times per day if not more often. Survey respondents believed that adolescents engage in sexual activity an average of 1 – 2 times per week. One study showed that from a population of n = 2393, 79.8% of adolescents males ages 18 – 24 had sex an average of 2 – 3 times per week and 75.8% of females in the same age group had sex with the same frequency (Kinsey Institute, 2010). Survey respondents believed that the average age of first exposure to explicit media was 11 years or younger. Although my sources did not specifically address this question, one study did report that 42% of adolescents ages 10 – 17 years had been exposed to internet pornography and 66% of this population reported that exposure was unwanted (Kinsey Institute, 2007). Respondents to the survey reported the average age of first sexual activity to be 15 – 18 years. In my research, the average age of intercourse for males was 16.9 years and for females was 17.4 years (Kinsey Institute, 2002). Most respondents to the survey believed that race and sexual activity were correlated. My research indicated that this was true, especially in relation to age. One study reported that the average age for first intercourse among Caucasians was 16.6 years, among African Americans 15.8 years, among Asians 18.1 years, and among Hispanics 17 years (Kinsey Institute, 1998). Most respondents of the survey believed that race had no relationship to amount of sexual media exposure. My research indicated that there was a relationship. African American adolescents’ spent a larger amount of time utilizing media sources and consequently had a higher frequency of sexual media exposure (Brown, 2006). Finally, most respondents to the survey agreed that there was a positive relationship between sexual media exposure and sexual activity. Brown’s study confirmed that among Caucasian adolescents there is a positive relationship, however among African American adolescents once other variables are accounted for there was no significant relationship between sexual media exposure and sexual activity (Brown, 2006). Overall respondents were very close to the research statistics for adolescent sexual behavior.
Bibliography
Berk, L. E. (2007). Physical and cognitive development in adolescence. In Development through the lifespan (5th ed., pp. 373-378). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Brown, J. D. (2006). Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazines Predicts Black and White Adolescents' Sexual Behavior. Pediatrics, 117(4), 1018-1027. doi: 10.1542/peds.2005-1406
The Kinsey Institute - sexuality information links - FAQ [Related Resources]. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2014, from http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/resources/FAQ.html#nsshb