Sex on the Shore: Wishful Identification and Parasocial Relationships as Mediators in the Relationship Between Jersey Shore Exposure and Emerging Adults' Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors

Abstract

Exposure to highly sexualized television programs has been correlated with emerging adults' sexual attitudes and behaviors. However, little is known about the variables that may mediate these relationships. The studies presented here investigated wishful identification and parasocial relationships withJersey Shore cast members as mediators in the relationship between exposure to Jersey Shore and permissive sexual attitudes. In Study 1, a secondary examination of content analysis data suggested that sex was pervasive on Jersey Shore. Analyses revealed that, on average, one sexual instance occurred every minute on Jersey Shore. The frequency of sexual instances on Jersey Shore was significantly higher than the frequency of sexual instances in other popular primetime television programs. In Study 2, data collected from a sample of emerging adults revealed a positive relationship between Jersey Shore exposure and permissive sexual attitudes mediated by participants' wishful identification and parasocial relationships with Jersey Shore cast members. Permissive sexual attitudes were positively correlated with sexual activity. Results are consistent with predictions made by cultivation and social cognitive theory. The relationships between television exposure, wishful identification, parasocial relationships, and emerging adults' sexual attitudes and behaviors are the focus of the discussion.

NOTES

Notes

1. Three- and four-way interactions were also examined in the hierarchical regression analysis on the third and fourth blocks, respectively. However, no three- or four-way interaction terms were significant. As such, they were removed from the final model to preserve power.

2. The significant interaction between Jersey Shore exposure and age indicated that separate path models should be examined for 18- to 20-year-old participants and for 21- to 23-year-old participants. Analyses of two hypothesized path models revealed that the data from the two age subgroups were identical to the data from the full sample. That is, the final models were not significantly different from one another when separated by age (Δχ²(1) = .99, p = .32). Age was collapsed and the data were analyzed using the full sample for brevity and clarity of presenting the results.