Explaining the Relationship Between Sexually Explicit Internet Material and Casual Sex: A Two-Step Mediation Model

Abstract

Despite increasing interest in the implications of adolescents' use of sexually explicit Internet material (SEIM), we still know little about the relationship between SEIM use and adolescents' casual sexual activities. Based on a three-wave online panel survey study among Dutch adolescents (N = 1079; 53.1% boys; 93.5% with an exclusively heterosexual orientation; M = 15.11; SD = 1.39), we found that watching SEIM predicted engagement in casual sex over time. In turn, casual sexual activities partially predicted adolescents' use of SEIM. A two-step mediation model was tested to explain the relationship between watching SEIM and casual sex. It was partially confirmed. First, watching SEIM predicted adolescents' perceptions of SEIM as a relevant information source from Wave 2 to Wave 3, but not from Wave 1 to Wave 2. Next, such perceived utility of SEIM was positively related to stronger instrumental attitudes toward sex and thus their views about sex as a core instrument for sexual gratification. Lastly, adolescents' instrumental attitudes toward sex predicted adolescents' engagement in casual sex activities consistently across waves. Partial support emerged for a reciprocal relationship between watching SEIM and perceived utility. We did not find a reverse relationship between casual sex activities and instrumental attitudes toward sex. No significant gender differences emerged.

Predicting the Willingness to Engage in Non-Consensual Forwarding of Sexts: The Role of Pornography and Instrumental Notions of Sex

“…Relatedly, in line with the sexual scripting perspective, previous research has focused on sexual attitudes, such as instrumental attitudes toward sex, as outcomes and underlying mechanisms of the effects of pornography use rather than moderators (e.g., Vandenbosch & van Oosten, 2018). In fact, given the depiction of sex in an instrumental way in pornography (Brosius et al, 1993;Klaassen & Peter, 2015;Monk-Turner & Purcell, 1999) it seems likely that pornography use increases the willingness to engage in NCFS by increasing instrumental attitudes toward sex.…”

Mídias e comportamento sexual de jovens: revisão de escopo

“…Estudo realizado em Taiwan revelou que os adolescentes tinham 12,3% e 10,8% mais probabilidade de ter uma relação sexual precoce e se envolver em sexo inseguro, respectivamente, quando expostos a uma ou mais mídias sexuais durante o início da adolescência, comparando-se com os que não tiveram acesso a nenhum conteúdo pornográfico [17]. Logo, o consumo de mídias sexuais pode influenciar a prática de sexo casual [23]. Enfermagem Brasil 2022;21(6):812-824 Embora a pornografia possa ser encarada como uma ferramenta de cunho educativo, pela qual os jovens são apresentados a uma variedade de estilos e posições sexuais, aumentando seu conhecimento no que tange à satisfação sexual, o uso indiscriminado pode afetar negativamente seu bem-estar psicológico, pois alguns jovens podem se tornar dependentes de sexo e conteúdo pornográfico [28].…”

“…Quanto ao consumo de mídias por TV, estudo revela que aparentemente faz pouca diferença se em um programa há pessoas falando sobre sexo ou se os mostra fazendo sexo, pois ambos afetam o comportamento sexual [23].…”

Adolescents’ Use of Sexually Explicit Internet Material Over the Course of 2019–2020 in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Three-wave Panel Study

“…Of the little research that has paid attention to non-heterosexual adolescents’ SEIM use frequencies, contradictory results have emerged. Some studies demonstrated no significant differences when heterosexual and non-heterosexual adolescents were retrospectively questioned about their SEIM use (Vandenbosch & van Oosten, 2018 ), while other studies reported that pornography use among non-heterosexual adolescents was three times more frequent than among heterosexual adolescents (Lim et al, 2017 ; Peter & Valkenburg, 2011 ). To our knowledge, no existing research has studied SEIM use trajectories of heterosexual adolescents relative to non-heterosexual adolescents.…”