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Perceived Realism Moderates the Relation Between Sexualized Media Consumption and Permissive Sexual Attitudes in Dutch Adolescents

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Abstract

This study examined whether the development of sexualized media consumption and permissive sexual attitudes would be more strongly interrelated when adolescents perceived sexualized media images as highly realistic. We used data from a three-wave longitudinal sample of 444 Dutch adolescents aged 13–16 years at baseline. Results from parallel process latent growth modeling multigroup analyses showed that higher initial levels of sexualized media consumption were associated with higher initial level of permissive sexual attitudes. Moreover, increases of sexualized media consumption over time were associated with increases of permissive sexual attitudes over time. Considering the moderation by perceived realism, we found these effects only for those who perceived sexualized media as more realistic. Findings for male and female adolescents were similar except for the relations between initial levels and subsequent development. Among male adolescents who perceived sexualized media images to be realistic, higher initial levels of permissive sexual attitudes were related to subsequent less rapid development of sexualized media consumption. For male adolescents who perceived sexualized media to be less realistic, higher initial levels of sexualized media consumption were related to a subsequent less rapid development of permissive sexual attitudes. These relations were not found for female adolescents. Overall, our results suggest that, in male and female adolescents, those with a high level of perceived realism showed a correlated development of sexualized media consumption and permissive sexual attitudes. These findings point to a need for extended information on how to guide adolescents in interpreting and handling sexualized media in everyday life.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, PO Box 80140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Laura Baams, Judith Semon Dubas & Marcel A. G. van Aken

  2. Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Geertjan Overbeek

  3. Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht Center for Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Suzan M. Doornwaard

  4. Institute for Gender Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Els Rommes

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  1. Laura Baams
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  2. Geertjan Overbeek
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  3. Judith Semon Dubas
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  4. Suzan M. Doornwaard
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  6. Marcel A. G. van Aken
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Correspondence to Laura Baams.

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Baams, L., Overbeek, G., Dubas, J.S. et al. Perceived Realism Moderates the Relation Between Sexualized Media Consumption and Permissive Sexual Attitudes in Dutch Adolescents. Arch Sex Behav 44, 743–754 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0443-7

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