Specificity of early movie effects on adolescent sexual behavior and alcohol use. 2013

Ross E O'Hara, and Frederick X Gibbons, and Zhigang Li, and Meg Gerrard, and James D Sargent
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Hinman Box 6207, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. Electronic address: ohara@uchc.edu.

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.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D009040 Motion Pictures The art, technique, or business of producing motion pictures for entertainment, propaganda, or instruction. Film,Motion Picture,Movie,Cinema,Films,Films as Topic,Movies,Movies as Topic,Cinemas,Films as Topics,Movies as Topics,Picture, Motion,Pictures, Motion
D002648 Child A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL. Children
D005260 Female Females
D005500 Follow-Up Studies Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease. Followup Studies,Follow Up Studies,Follow-Up Study,Followup Study,Studies, Follow-Up,Studies, Followup,Study, Follow-Up,Study, Followup
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293 Adolescent A person 13 to 18 years of age. Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D000294 Adolescent Behavior Any observable response or action of an adolescent. Behavior, Adolescent,Adolescent Behaviors,Behaviors, Adolescent
D000367 Age Factors Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from AGING, a physiological process, and TIME FACTORS which refers only to the passage of time. Age Reporting,Age Factor,Factor, Age,Factors, Age
D000428 Alcohol Drinking Behaviors associated with the ingesting of ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, including social drinking. Alcohol Consumption,Alcohol Intake,Drinking, Alcohol,Alcohol Drinking Habits,Alcohol Drinking Habit,Alcohol Intakes,Consumption, Alcohol,Drinking Habit, Alcohol,Habit, Alcohol Drinking,Habits, Alcohol Drinking,Intake, Alcohol

Related Publications

Ross E O'Hara, and Frederick X Gibbons, and Zhigang Li, and Meg Gerrard, and James D Sargent
March 1992, American journal of diseases of children (1960),
Ross E O'Hara, and Frederick X Gibbons, and Zhigang Li, and Meg Gerrard, and James D Sargent
February 1992, The International journal of the addictions,
Ross E O'Hara, and Frederick X Gibbons, and Zhigang Li, and Meg Gerrard, and James D Sargent
November 1993, Journal of marriage and the family,
Ross E O'Hara, and Frederick X Gibbons, and Zhigang Li, and Meg Gerrard, and James D Sargent
May 2010, Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs,
Ross E O'Hara, and Frederick X Gibbons, and Zhigang Li, and Meg Gerrard, and James D Sargent
December 2018, Addictive behaviors,
Ross E O'Hara, and Frederick X Gibbons, and Zhigang Li, and Meg Gerrard, and James D Sargent
January 2000, Annual review of sex research,
Ross E O'Hara, and Frederick X Gibbons, and Zhigang Li, and Meg Gerrard, and James D Sargent
March 2021, Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence,
Ross E O'Hara, and Frederick X Gibbons, and Zhigang Li, and Meg Gerrard, and James D Sargent
July 2020, Pediatric emergency care,
Ross E O'Hara, and Frederick X Gibbons, and Zhigang Li, and Meg Gerrard, and James D Sargent
May 2020, Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior,
Ross E O'Hara, and Frederick X Gibbons, and Zhigang Li, and Meg Gerrard, and James D Sargent
January 1987, Addictive behaviors,
Copied contents to your clipboard!