The Relationship Between Exposure to Sexual Music Videos and Young Adults' Sexual Attitudes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between exposure to sexual music videos and young people's sexual attitudes (i.e., premarital sexual permissiveness and endorsement of the sexual double standard). Items gauging exposure to 75 music videos ranging in sexual explicitness were used to measure sexual video viewing among a sample of 266 undergraduate students. As expected, exposure to more sexually explicit music videos was associated with more permissive attitudes toward premarital sex and stronger endorsement of the sexual double standard, regardless of gender, overall television viewing, and previous sexual experience. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.