"Who Can I Turn To?" The Impact of Familial and Non-Familial Forms of Social Support on the Sexual Health Knowledge, Sexual Attitudes and Sexual Behaviors of Adolescents that Access Sexually Explicit Media Open Access

Abstract

Abstract
"Who Can I Turn To?"
The Impact of Familial and Non-Familial Forms of Social Support on the
Sexual Health Knowledge, Sexual Attitudes and Sexual Behaviors of Adolescents that
Access Sexually Explicit Media
By Shani Robertson
Previous studies have confirmed the protective role of parental support on adolescent sexual health, knowledge and behaviors. Not all adolescents have positive parental support, and some may have strong social support from other sources instead, such as a mentor. Few studies have exclusively examined the protective nature of these non-familial relationships on adolescent sexual health in comparison to familial social support. Adolescents must navigate through a sexualized media environment and, without adequate guidance or sexual health education, they are likely to make poor choices when engaging in sexual behavior. A secondary data analysis was conducted on a national sample of 445 youth aged 14-18 (mean of 15 years; 79.5% White, 53.5% female) to examine the protective role of familial and non-familial social support on the outcomes of exposure to sexually explicit media, specifically on the sexual health knowledge, sexual attitudes and sexual behaviors of adolescents who access it. Independent samples t-test analyses found that exposure to sexually explicit media is strongly associated with behaviors such as 'hooking up', communicating with a partner about sex, multiple oral sex and sex partners, and increased lifetime prevalence of oral sex or sexual intercourse. Exposure was found to be negatively associated with intention to use condoms at next sex act. Linear regression analyses that controlled for age and gender found that familial and non-familial social support moderated the effect of exposure to sexually explicit media on the likelihood of an adolescent having sex or oral sex. Future studies should examine the
protective effect of individual non-familial relationships on adolescents' sexual health in light of weaker parental relations.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
CHAPTER I: BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE ........................... 1

Purpose & Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Theoretical Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE......................................... 9
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Prevalence of STDs among adolescents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Risk Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 12
The Internet and adolescents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 12
Exposure to sexual y explicit content on the Internet and

sexual risk behaviors among adolescents . . ........................... . . . 13
Protective Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Social Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ................................................. 23
Tracking Teen Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . 23
Thesis Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Sample Recruitment Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 25
Dependent Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 25
Independent Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS .............................................................. 37
Sample Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Question One: The prevalence of exposure to sexual y explicit media among the sample of
adolescents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Research Question Two: How do adolescents who have some level of exposure to sexual y explicit
material differ in sexual health knowledge, sexual attitudes, sexual behaviors and social support from
adolescents who have no level of exposure to sexual y explicit material... 40
Sexual Health Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . 40
Sexual Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Sexual Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Social Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Research Question Three: The relation between sexual y explicit media exposure and sexual attitudes,
sexual behavior and social support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Sexual Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Sexual Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Social Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Research Question Four: Does social support act as a moderator between exposure to sexually
explicit material and sexual behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Ef ects of Social Support at High and Low Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
CHAPTER V: DISCUSSION .............................................................. 56
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 56
Strengths and Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
REFERENCES ................................................................................. 67

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Behavioral Sciences and Health Education
Degree	MPH
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health
Keyword	non-familial social support social support sexual health moderation analysis familial social support adolescents oral sex sexual intercourse
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Salazar, Laura F, Emory University
Committee Members	Lang, Delia L, Emory University Wingood, Gina M, Emory University
Partnering Agencies	Does not apply (no collaborating organization)

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