Advertising and Public Relations, Michigan State University.
Communication, University of Delaware.
J Sex Res. 2021 Mar-Apr;58(3):322-330. doi: 10.1080/00224499.2021.1873226. Epub 2021 Jan 31.
Sexual and violent media content is prevalent, and adolescents exposed to this content may be more likely to enact risky sexual and aggressive behaviors. According to the Differential Susceptibility Model, dispositional traits, such as empathy, can predict risky media exposure and moderate the relationship between exposure and behavior. A total of 2,424 US adolescents (ages 14-17) participated in an online study that measured exposure to sex, violence, and their co-occurrence from the same character in a list of movies content analyzed for sex and violence. The survey outcomes of interest included adolescent sexual behavior, aggressive behavior, and both behaviors together, as well as empathy, which was included as a moderator. The exposure to movie character behavior was matched to adolescents' survey responses. Results showed that empathy was a predictor of media exposure to sex and violence in movies, and was a moderator of the exposure-behavior relationship. The exposure-behavior relationship was moderated by empathy, such that empathy had an ameliorating effect on the exposure-behavior relationship, but did not negate it completely. This study furthers our understanding of how exposure to sexual and violent content in media, combined with individual differences, may play a role in adolescent enactment of risky behaviors.
性和暴力媒体内容很普遍，青少年接触这些内容可能更容易表现出冒险的性行为和攻击性行为。根据差异易感性模型，性格特质，如同理心，可以预测有风险的媒体接触，并调节接触和行为之间的关系。共有 2424 名美国青少年（14-17 岁）参与了一项在线研究，该研究从分析的电影列表中对同一个角色的性和暴力内容，衡量了他们接触性、暴力和两者同时出现的情况。感兴趣的调查结果包括青少年的性行为、攻击行为以及两者兼而有之，同理心也被包括在内作为一个调节因素。电影角色行为的接触与青少年的调查反应相匹配。结果表明，同理心是青少年对电影中性和暴力内容的媒体接触的预测因素，也是接触行为关系的调节因素。同理心调节了接触行为的关系，同理心对接触行为的关系有改善作用，但并没有完全否定它。这项研究进一步加深了我们对媒体中性和暴力内容的接触，以及个体差异如何在青少年冒险行为中的作用的理解。
