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Community and media influences on adolescent sexual abstinence

Mary Cope Nelson, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Abstract

Many studies have shown that unmarried teen sexual activity is frequently harmful to teens and society. Thirty years of sex education programs have failed to decrease harmful consequences of teen sex. This study found evidence that this failure results from building programs on the following false assumptions: (1) teen sexual activity is natural and inevitable, (2) negative consequences of teen sex are preventable, (3) adolescents are primarily rational, and (4) accurate information equals a decline in harmful behavior. Past studies have investigated family, peer and intrapersonal influences on sexual activity. The present study adds the concepts of teen perception of community norms, and media (television, music, and movies) as additional sources of influence. Specifically, this study sought to answer the questions: (1) does teen perception of community norms about adolescent sexual activity influence self-reported sexual abstinence/experience; (2) does the quantity and/or quality of television, music and movies affect sexual abstinence/experience; and (3) what factors, or combination of factors are most likely to result in teen sexual abstinence. Constructs included in the model were family influences, peer influences, teens' moral view of unmarried sexual activity (risks/rewards), community influences, media influences, and self-reported age of first sexual intercourse. A survey questionnaire was given to 444 undergraduates at a midwestern university. Analysis of variance, regression, factor analysis, and discriminant analysis was used for data analysis. Community influence and aspects of television, music and movies influences were significant components of a model of adolescent abstinence. Parental, peer and moral view constructs were also significant. Although many variables significantly affected abstinence, the following variables were found to have greatest weight relative to the model as a whole: age teen first dated, television quality (night/day soaps, MTV, talk shows) number of movies, fear of negative emotional consequences (moral view), and peer example.

Subject Area

Developmental psychology|Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology|Health education|Public health|Behaviorial sciences|Mass media

Recommended Citation

Nelson, Mary Cope, "Community and media influences on adolescent sexual abstinence" (1997). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9734630.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9734630

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