Specificity of early movie effects on adolescent sexual behavior and alcohol use

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 96; pp. 200 - 207
• Main Authors: O'Hara, Ross E., Gibbons, Frederick X., Li, Zhigang, Gerrard, Meg, Sargent, James D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2013; Elsevier; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior - psychology; Adolescents; Age Factors; Alcohol; Alcohol Abuse; Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology; Alcohol Drinking - psychology; Alcohol use; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Cinema; Condoms - utilization; Drinking Behavior; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Gender differences; Health Behavior; Humans; Male; Males; Mass Media Images; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Motion pictures; Motion Pictures - statistics & numerical data; Movies; Prevention and actions; Prevention programs; Psychological effects; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Risk; Risk-Taking; Risky sex; Sex; Sex Differences; Sex Factors; Sexual Behavior; Sexual Behavior - psychology; Sexual Behavior - statistics & numerical data; Sexual behaviour; Sexual Partners; Specificity; Teenagers; Toxicology; U.S.A; United States; United States - epidemiology; Young Adult; United States; North America; America; United States > US; Alcohol; Specificity; Risky sex; Movies; Adolescents; United States; Human; Consumption; Ethanol; Alcoholism; Sexual behavior; Sex; Alcoholic beverage; Adolescent; Early; Social medicine; Social aspect
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.07.032

Adolescents' movie sex exposure (MSE) and movie alcohol exposure (MAE) have been shown to influence later sexual behavior and drinking, respectively. No study to date, however, has tested whether these effects generalize across behaviors. This study examined the concurrent influences of early (i.e., before age 16) MSE and MAE on subsequent risky sex and alcohol use among a national sample of 1228 U.S. adolescents. Participants reported their health behaviors and movie viewing up to six times between 2003 and 2009 in telephone interviews. The Beach method was used to create a population-based estimate of each participant's MSE and MAE, which were then entered into a structural equation model (SEM) to predict lifetime risky sex and past month alcohol use at ages 18–21. For both men and women, MAE predicted alcohol use, mediated by age of initiation of heavy episodic drinking (HED) and age of sexual debut; MAE also predicted risky sex via age of sexual debut. Among men only, MSE indirectly predicted risky sex and alcohol use. Findings indicated that early exposure to risk content from movies had both specific and general effects on later risk-taking, but gender differences were evident: for men, MSE was a stronger predictor than MAE, but for women, only MAE predicted later risk behavior. These results have implications for future media research, prevention programs for adolescent sex and alcohol use, and movie ratings that can guide parents' decisions as to which movies are appropriate for their children. •Male adolescents' exposure to sexual and alcohol content in movies predicts later risky sexual behavior and alcohol use.•Female adolescents' exposure to alcohol content in movies alone predicts later risky sexual behavior and alcohol use.•Movie effects on adolescent health-risk-taking appear to include both specific and non-specific components.