Michael Hennessy, Ph.D., research analysis manager at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, was lead author of a paper, “Estimating the Longitudinal Association Between Adolescent Sexual Behavior and Exposure to Sexual Media Content,” published in the Journal of Sex Research. Co-authors were APPC’s Dr. Amy Bleakley, Professor Martin Fishbein (principal investigator of the study), and Dr. Amy Jordan.
Using data from the Annenberg Sex and Media study, an investigation of the relationship between exposure to sexual content in the media and self-reported sexual behavior in adolescents, the authors revealed important differences by race and ethnicity in levels of media exposure – and related behavioral effects – when looking at adolescents over a three-year period, beginning at ages, 14, 15, and 16. Their work suggests that in order to improve understanding of the relationship between media exposure and sexual behavior in youth subsequent investigations should begin earlier and continue over a longer period.
