How Peers Mediate Media Influence on Adolescents’ Sexual Attitudes and Sexual Behavior

Abstract

In this study, I examine a model through which I attempt to identify how peers mediate media influences on adolescent sexuality. The data for this paper came from a paper-and-pencil survey involving 213 late adolescents who were between the ages of 18 and 19. The findings show that (a) adolescents attend to sex-related media and believe that their peers attend to similar media, (b) adolescents make estimates of possible media influences on their friends, (c) perceptions of media influence on peer norms regarding sexual issues are positively related to adolescents’ own sexual permissiveness, and (d) the permissive sexual attitudes of adolescents predict the possibility for adolescents to engage in sexual activities.