Adolescents’ Sex-Related Alcohol Expectancies and Alcohol Advertisements in Magazines: The Role of Wishful Identification, Realism, and Beliefs about Women’s Enjoyment of Sexualization

Abstract

In the United States, approximately one in five sexually active teens report alcohol or drug use before their last sexual encounter. The co-occurrence of alcohol with sex increases risky behaviors, such as having unprotected sex. Magazines that target adolescents often feature alcohol advertisements with sexual innuendo and female objectification. Such advertisements may inform adolescents’ expectancies that alcohol can facilitate sex. With an experimental design and path analysis, we examined 874 adolescents’ (ages 15–17, M = 16.05) exposure to objectifying alcohol ads, their perceptions of the ads, and their attitudes about women’s sexualization in relation to sex-related alcohol expectancies. For female adolescents we assessed their enjoyment of sexualization, and for male adolescents, we assessed their perceived enjoyment of sexualization among women. Teens’ perceptions that alcohol ads promote the co-occurrence of alcohol with sex mediated the effect of ad exposure and perceived realism of the ads on sex-related alcohol expectancies. The enjoyment of sexualization construct mediated the effect of wishful identification and perceived realism on sex-related alcohol expectancies. Wishful identification also directly related to sex-related alcohol expectancies. Results challenge the alcohol industry’s compliance with advertisement regulations and suggest media literacy as a strategy to promote healthy sex-related alcohol expectancies among adolescents.