Adolescent and parent perceptions of media influence on adolescent sexuality

Adolescence, Summer, 2004 by Ronald Jay Werner-Wilson, Jennifer Lynn Fitzharris, Kathleen M. Morrissey

We will review data from focus groups to examine the extent to which adolescents identify--without prompting by the research team--media as a source of influence on sexual behavior. For the sake of comparison, we will also examine data from focus groups conducted with parents of these adolescents to identify parental perception of media influence on adolescent sexuality. In addition to evaluating perceptions about the influence of media, we will also examine strategies identified by participants to (a) respond to media messages that promote sexual experimentation and (b) use the media to promote responsible sexual behavior.

METHOD

The present research is part of a study we conducted to explore the perceptions of both adolescents and their parents about adolescent sexuality. We conducted focus group interviews with participants from two communities in southwest Michigan, one suburban/urban (with an approximate population of 230,000) and the other more rural (with a population of 10,000). Separate interviews were conducted for adolescent girls and their families and for adolescent boys and their families. All participants were asked the following six questions: (1) "In your opinion, what are important influences on teen age sexual behavior?" (Follow-up: "What are important influences on contraceptive use?"); (2) "How do teenagers' friends influence sexual behavior" (Follow-up: "How do friends influence decisions about condom use?"); (3) "How do parents of teenagers influence teen sexual behavior?" (Follow-up: "How do parents influence decisions about condom use?"; (4) "What should be done to help teenagers reduce risky sexual practices?" (Follow-up: "What needs to be done to increase condom use among teenagers?"; (5) "What specific issues should be included in sexuality education for teenagers?" (Follow-up: "How should this information be presented?"); and (6) "Should parents participate in sexuality education?" (Follow-up: "How could they be included?"). Although we expected media-related comments in response to the first question, we examined all of the transcripts for each group because we were interested in unprompted comments about media.

Sample

We employed a snowball sample to recruit participants: we asked each person who agreed to participate to provide us with the names of other families who might be willing to participate in our study. We interviewed adolescent girls and their families as well as adolescent boys and their families at each site. Separate interviews were conducted with each member of the family so we have data from interviews with two groups of girls (n = 8), boys (n = 6), mothers of girls (n = 7), mothers of boys (n = 5), fathers of girls (n = 6), and fathers of boys (n = 5).

The average age was 15 for girls and 16 for boys. Parents' ages ranged from 41 to 51 with the average age being 46 for mothers and 48 for fathers. Although all of the adolescent participants reported on their anonymous questionnaire that they were virgins, most of them (n = 13) had friends who had experienced sexual intercourse. Additionally, all of the adolescents indicated that they were "exclusively heterosexual" in the anonymous survey. Most of the sample identified themselves as being European American. The majority (71%) of the adolescents lived with both biological parents and annual family income ranged from $30,000 to $70,000. The average family income for participants was $60,000. Parents' education levels ranged from a high school degree to a graduate degree with most parents completing four years of college.