Naslov
Interpretation and use of sexually explicit material and problematic adolescent sexual behavior: Is there a room for parental control?

Autori
Landripet, Ivan ; Tomić, Ivan ; Burić, Jakov ; Štulhofer, Aleksandar

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Forty-Second Annual Meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research Book of Abstracts / - Malmö : IASR, 2016, 99-99

Skup
Forty-Second Annual Meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research

Mjesto i datum
Malmö, Švedska, 26.06.2016. - 29.06.2016

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
adolescents; sexually explicit material; parental control; sexual experience; sexting; sexual aggressiveness

Sažetak
Rationale/Background: New digital technologies provide adolescents with unprecedented accessibility to sexually explicit material (SEM). Rising concerns over detrimental effects of SEM use on sexuality-related harms among adolescents seem to be fueled in part by parents’ increasing difficulties with supervising their children’s Internet activities. Research Questions: To inform the field and provide insights relevant to parents and educators, this study explored: (RQ1) Is there a link between sexuality-related risks (early sexual activity, sexting, and sexual aggressiveness) and SEM use, perceived SEM realism, and sexual permissiveness among adolescents? ; (RQ2) Does parents’ involvement in their adolescent children daily activities play a role in adolescents’ exposure to potential SEM-related harms? Methods: Participants were high school students from Croatia’s capital of Zagreb who completed an online survey on the effects of sexualized media on adolescent health in 2015 and reported pornography use in the past 6 months (N = 1, 265, with 36.8% of female participants ; Mage = 16.2, SD = 0, 54). Validated 4 or 5-item scales were used to assess sexual experience (α = .86), sexting (α = .74), perceived SEM realism (α = .86), sexual permissiveness (α = .78), and parental control (α =.81). SEM use was measured by the frequency of use two years ago, in the past six months, and in the past two weeks (α = .85). Sexually aggressive behavior was assessed with a single item. Results: Three structural equation models were tested separately by gender, with early sexual activity, sexting, and sexual aggressiveness as outcomes. Among both male and female adolescents, higher sexual experience (Model 1) and higher proclivity to sexting (Model 2) were associated with lower parental control, higher sexual permissiveness, higher perceived realism of SEM, and more frequent SEM use (β = .06 – .24, p < .05). In both models, SEM use additionally had a significant mediated effect on the outcomes through perceived SEM realism. In Model 3, sexual aggressiveness was again negatively associated with parental control and positively with sexual permissiveness regardless of gender (β = .09 – .12, p < .05), but not with SEM use or SEM realism (p > .05). Conclusions: As the associations between parental control and risky outcomes were consistently higher than the direct and indirect effects of SEM use, parental engagement in adolescent daily lives appears to have a more profound role than the adolescent’s experience with SEM. The findings also suggest that the protective role of parental control should be supplemented with media literacy education programs designed to assist young people in critical evaluation of highly sexualized popular media and SEM.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Javno zdravstvo i zdravstvena zaštita, Sociologija, Psihologija

POVEZANOST RADA