Evaluation of Sexual Content in Teen-Centered Films From 1980 to 2007

Abstract

Film has become a popular form of entertainment among teenagers and provides images from which teens model behaviors and form attitudes. This study addresses the understudied area of the portrayal of teen and adult sexual behaviors over nearly three decades in the top-grossing teen-centered films from 1980 to 2007. This study analyzes the frequency, nature, character portrayals, and consequences of sexual behavior. The results show that teen-centered films are replete with passionate kissing and sexual dialogue yet contain a modicum of implied intercourse and intimate touching. Moreover, the frequency of such occurrences has remained surprisingly constant over the last three decades. This research also reveals that teen-centered films, as a source for sexual socialization, are relatively impoverished when it comes to responsible messages dealing with abstinence, safe sex practices, and the health risks associated with sex.

Notes

Note. Source for interrater reliabilities calculations: Holsti (1969).

Note. n = 30 for each decade. Values are M (SD).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mark Callister

Mark Callister (Ph.D., University of Arizona, 1997) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communications at Brigham Young University. His research interests include media and adolescents, and visual rhetoric in advertising.

Lesa A. Stern

Lesa A. Stern (Ph.D., University of Arizona, 1994) is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Westmont College. Her research interests include building positive relationships, communication assessment as well as hyperbole.

Sarah M. Coyne

Sarah M. Coyne (Ph.D., University of Central Lancashire, 2004) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. Her research interests include media and aggression.

Tom Robinson

Tom Robinson (Ph.D., University of Southern Mississippi, 1996) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communications at Brigham Young University. His research interests include the portrayal of older individuals in advertising and the media, Internet advertising, effects theories in advertising, and sports advertising.

Emily Bennion

Emily Bennion (M.A., Brigham Young University, 2008) is a graduate of the Department of Communications at Brigham Young University. Her research interests include the portrayals of sexual content in adolescent media.