The real-life risks associated with engaging in sexual behavior while intoxicated or high are rarely depicted on television. This study examined whether heavy exposure to sexual and alcohol content on fictional and reality TV programs would be associated with emerging adults’ risky sexual and alcohol experiences. Of particular interest were programs in which sexual and alcohol themes were perceived to co-occur most strongly and the genre of TV exposure. Participants were 320 male and female undergraduate students between 18 and 25 years of age (M = 20). Results showed heavier exposure to reality TV programs perceived to have strong, concurrent sexual and alcohol themes, and perceiving reality TV content as realistic was each associated with more harmful drinking patterns and more frequent sexual behavior while intoxicated or high. Methodological and health implications of the findings are discussed.
AhuviaA. (2001). Traditional, interpretive, and reception based content analyses: Improving the ability of content analysis to address issues of pragmatic and theoretical concern. Social Indicators Research, 54, 139–172. doi:10.1023/A:1011087813505
2.
AndersonP.de BruijinA.AngusK.GordonR.HastingsG. (2009). Impact of alcohol advertising and media exposure on adolescent alcohol use: A systematic review of longitudinal studies. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 44, 229–243. doi:10.1093/alcalc/agn115
3.
BaamsL.OverbeekG.DubasJ. S.DoornwaardS. M.RommesE.van AkenM. A. G. (2015). Perceived realism moderates the relation between media consumption and permissive sexual attitudes in Dutch adolescents. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44, 743–754. doi:10.1007/s10508-014-0443-7
4.
BaborT. F.Higgins-BiddleJ. C.SaundersJ. B.MonteiroM. G. (2001). AUDIT: The Alcohol use disorders identification test. Guidelines for use in primary care (2nd ed.). Retrieved fromhttp://www.talkingalcohol.com/files/pdfs/WHO_audit.pdf
5.
BanduraA. (1994). Social cognitive theory of mass communication. In BryantJ.ZillmannD. (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 121–153). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
6.
BleakleyA.EllithorpeM. E.HennesseyM.KhuranaA.JamiesonP.WeitzI. (2017). Alcohol, sex, and screens: Modeling media influence on adolescent alcohol and sex co-occurrence. Journal of Sex Research, 1–12. doi:10.1080/00224499.2017.1279585
7.
BleakleyA.HennessyM.FishbeinM.JordanA. (2009). How sources of sexual information relate to adolescents’ beliefs about sex. American Journal of Health Behavior, 33, 37–48. doi:10.5993/AJHB.33.1.4
8.
BondB. J.DrogosK. L. (2014). Sex on the shore: Wishful identification and parasocial relationships as mediators in the relationship between Jersey Shore exposure and emerging adults’ sexual attitudes and behaviors. Media Psychology, 17, 102–126. doi:10.1080/15213269.2013.872039
9.
BradleyK. (2013). (Re)presentations of (hetero)sexualized gender in Two and a Half Men: A content analysis. Journal of Gender Studies, 22, 221–226. doi:10.1080/09589236.2012.752348
10.
CertainH. E.HarahanB. J.SaewycE. M.FlemingM. F. (2009). Condom use in heavy drinking college students: The importance of always using condoms. Journal of American College Health, 58, 187–194.
11.
CollinsR. L.ElliottM. N.BerryS. H.KanouseD. E.KunkelD.HunterS. B.MiuA. (2004). Watching sex on television predicts adolescent initiation of sexual behavior. Pediatrics, 114, 280–289. doi:10.1542/peds.2003-1065-L
12.
CoyneS. M.Padilla-WalkerL. M.HowardE. (2013). Emerging in a digital world. A decade review of media use, effects, and gratifications in emerging adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 1, 125–137. doi:10.1177/2167696813479782
13.
FerrisA. L.SmithS. W.GreenbergB. S.SmithS. L. (2007). The content of reality dating shows and viewer perceptions of dating. Journal of Communication, 57, 490–510. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00354.x
14.
FisherD. A.HillD. l.GrubeJ. W.BersaminM. M.WalkerS.GruberE. L. (2009). Televised sexual content and parental mediation: Influences on adolescent sexuality. Media Psychology, 12, 121–147.
15.
FlynnM. A.MorinD.ParkS.StanaA. (2015). “Let’s get this party started!” An analysis of health risk behavior on MTV reality television shows. Journal of Health Communication, 20, 1382–1390. doi:10.1080/10810730.2015.1018608
16.
GerbnerG.GrossL.MorganM.SignorielliN. (1994). Growing up with television: The cultivation perspective. In BryantJ.ZillmanD. (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 17–41). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
17.
HanewinkelR.SargentJ. D.PoelenE. A.ScholteR.FlorekE.SweetingH.MorgensternM. (2012). Alcohol consumption in movies and adolescent binge drinking in 6 European countries. Pediatrics, 129, 1–8.
18.
HingsonR.HeerenT.WinterM.WechslerH. (2005). Magnitude of alcohol-related mortality and morbidity among U.S. college students ages 18-24: Changes from 1998 to 2001. Annual Review of Public Health, 26, 259–279. doi:10.1146/annurev.publhealth.26.021304.144652
19.
KimJ. L.WellsB. E. (2017). Assessing alcohol and sexual content on reality dating programs. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 6, 237–254. doi:10.1037/ppm0000098
20.
KunkelD.EyalK.FinnertyK.BielyE.DonnersteinE. (2005). Sex on TV 4: A biennial report to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation.
21.
LewisM. A.LeeC. M.PatrickM. E.FossosN. (2007). Gender-specific normative misperceptions of risky sexual and alcohol-related risky sexual behavior. Sex Roles, 57, 81–90.
22.
ManganelloJ. A.HendersonV. R.JordanA.TrentacosteN.MartinS.HennessyM.FishbeinM. (2010). Adolescent judgment of sexual content on television: Implications for future content analysis research. The Journal of Sex Research, 47, 364–373.
23.
MorenoM. A.ParksM.RichardsonL. P. (2007). What are adolescents showing the world about their health risk behaviors on MySpace?Medscape General Medicine, 9, 9.
24.
MurphyS. T.HetherH. J.RideoutV. (2008). How healthy is prime time? An analysis of health content in popular prime time television programs. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation.
25.
NabiR. L. (2007). Determining dimensions of reality: A concept mapping of the reality TV landscape. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 51, 371–390. doi:10.1080/08838150701307111
26.
PotterW. J. (1988). Perceived reality in television effects research. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 32, 23–41.
27.
RubinA. M. (1981). An examination of television viewing motivations. Communication Research, 9, 141–165.
28.
RubinA. M. (2002). The uses-and-gratifications perspective of media effects. In BryantJ.ZillmanD. (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 525–548). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
29.
RussellC. A.RussellD. W. (2009). Alcohol messages in prime-time television series. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 43, 108–128.
30.
RussellC. A.RussellD. W.BolandW. A.GrubeJ. W. (2014). Television’s cultivation of American adolescents’ beliefs about alcohol and the moderating role of trait reactance. Journal of Children and Media, 8, 5–22.
31.
SeabrookR. C.WardL. M.CortinaL. M.GiaccardiS.LippmanJ. R. (2017). Girl power or powerless girl? Television, sexual scripts, and sexual agency in sexually active young women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 41, 240–253.
32.
SimonW.GagnonJ. H. (1986). Sexual scripts: Permanence and change. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 15, 97–120.
33.
SmithG. T.GoldmanM. S. (1994). Alcohol expectancy theory and the identification of high-risk adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 4, 229–247.
34.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2007). The Surgeon General’s call to action to prevent and reduce underage drinking. Retrieved fromhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44360/
35.
WardL. M. (2016). Media and sexualization: State of empirical research, 1995-2015. Journal of Sex Research, 53, 560–577. doi:10.1080/00224499.2016.1142496
36.
WrightP. (2009). Sexual socialization messages in mainstream entertainment mass media: A review and synthesis. Sexuality and Culture, 13, 181–200.
