Associations Between Croatian Adolescents’ Use of Sexually Explicit Material and Sexual Behavior: Does Parental Monitoring Play a Role?

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Author: Ivan Tomić
• Author: Jakov Burić
• Author: Aleksandar Štulhofer https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5138-3644
• Author's institution: University of Rijeka; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of Psychology)
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of Psychology)
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of Sociology)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: SOCIAL SCIENCES; Psychology
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: SOCIAL SCIENCES; Sociology

Abstract (english)

The use of sexually explicit material (SEM) has become a part of adolescent sexual socialization, at least in the Western world. Adolescent and young people’s SEM use has been associated with risky sexual behaviors, which has recently resulted in policy debates about restricting access to SEM. Such development seems to suggest a crisis of the preventive role of parental oversight. Based on the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model, this study assessed the role of parental monitoring in the context of adolescent vulnerability to SEM-associated risky or potentially adverse outcomes (sexual activity, sexual aggressiveness, and sexting). Using an online sample of Croatian 16-year-olds (N = 1265) and structural equation modeling approach, parental monitoring was found consistently and negatively related to the problematic behavioral outcomes, regardless of participants’ gender. While SEM use was related to sexual experience and sexting, higher levels of parental monitoring were associated with less frequent SEM use and lower acceptance of sexual permissiveness. Despite parents’ fears about losing the ability to monitor their adolescent children’s lives in the Internet era, there is evidence that parental engagement remains an important protective factor.

• Keywords (english): Adolescents; Sexually explicit material; Parental monitoring; Sexual experience; Sexting; Sexual aggressiveness
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Accepted version
• Journal title: Archives of Sexual Behavior
• Numbering: vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 1881-1893
• p-ISSN: 0004-0002
• e-ISSN: 1573-2800
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-017-1097-z
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:529736
• Publication: 2017-10-25
• Project: Number: IP-2013-11-9221; Title (croatian): Prospektivno biopsihosocijalno istraživanje utjecaja seksualno eksplicitnih materijala na socijalizaciju i zdravlje mladih; Acronym: PROBIOPS SEM STUDY; Leader: Aleksandar Štulhofer; Jurisdiction: Croatia; Funding stream: IP
• Document URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10508-017-1097-z
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Public note: This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Archives of Sexual Behavior. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-017-1097-z. The original version of this article was revised. The versions of Figures 2–4 presented in the original version of this article were incomplete. In all three figures, structural paths were omitted. The article has been updated to provide the correct figures. A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1159-x.
• Created on: 2019-10-25 14:59:59