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Adolescents’ sexual media diets

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Abstract

A model of how adolescents choose, interpret, and interact with the mass media is discussed in the context of sexual development. The Media Practice Model suggests that adolescents select and react to sexual media diets that speak to an emerging sense of themselves as sexual human beings. Relatively little is known about how the sexual content adolescents attend to in the media is interpreted or incorporated into their lives. Entertainment-education and media literacy are two strategies for increasing the possibility of healthy outcomes from adolescents’ use of sexual media.

Section snippets

Teens’ selection of media content

The media available to youth today have become increasingly specialized, offering different audiences different kinds of content. In the late 1990s, for example, white teen girls knew that the Warner Brothers Network was their television channel because its primetime lineup featured such shows as Dawson’s Creek, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and Felicity that were designed especially to lure white teen girls back to television; African-American youth were attracted to shows such as Moesha and

Teens’ media diets

Given the vast array of media material available today, teens make choices about which media and content they will pay attention to. Figure 2, modeled after the familiar United States Department of Agriculture food group pyramid, illustrates some possible dimensions of what can be called adolescents’ media diets. At the bottom of the triangle is what Paul Willis (7) called “the common culture,” the images, styles, and ideas that most youth will attend to in the media. When television first

Interaction with sexual media content

The second major step in adolescents’ media practice is interaction: Once content is selected, how is it understood? What aspects of the content are attended to and engaged with? A few previous studies of teens’ interpretation of the frequent sexual content in the media, and a large body of work on the concept of selective perception suggest that all members of an audience will not see or interpret the same message in the same way 9, 10.

One of the few studies about how adolescents interpret

Application of sexual media content

As teens interpret and evaluate sexual media content, they also may or may not incorporate what they are seeing in their own developing sense of self. This is the step we traditionally have thought of as media effects. Researchers studying the effects of sexual media content, for example, typically would ask: Does the sexual content in the media influence how adolescents think about sexuality and how they behave sexually? Although, as Joanne Cantor discusses in this issue, many studies have

Guidelines for media depictions

In the meantime, we do know enough about how some kinds of content are depicted to suggest that different kinds of portrayals could make it easier for young people to make healthier life choices. Some groups have begun to establish guidelines for more well-balanced images of sexuality in the media. The guidelines developed by the National Commission on Adolescent Sexual Health (16), for example, called for the media to:

  • provide diverse and positive views of a range of body types; eliminate

Implications for parents and educators

Another promising strategy that is just taking hold in the United States is called media literacy, “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and communicate messages in a variety of forms” (19). Across the country, local groups are working in schools and community centers, teaching youth and parents to be more critical media consumers by showing them that: (a) media messages are constructed and can be deconstructed to uncover the symbolism that conveys meaning; (b) messages are produced within

Future research

We still have much to learn about the role the media play in the health of adolescents. From the perspective of the Media Practice Model, future research should:

  • 1.

    Look at the media with which teens are most engaged. Consider the whole media diet, not just one component.

  • 2.

    Look beyond simple demographic differences. Conduct studies that can sort out how adolescents’ developing identities influence the selection, interpretation, and application of media content.

  • 3.

    Evaluate the effectiveness of

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