ABSTRACT

Sexual and violent media content is prevalent, and adolescents exposed to this content may be more likely to enact risky sexual and aggressive behaviors. According to the Differential Susceptibility Model, dispositional traits, such as empathy, can predict risky media exposure and moderate the relationship between exposure and behavior. A total of 2,424 US adolescents (ages 14–17) participated in an online study that measured exposure to sex, violence, and their co-occurrence from the same character in a list of movies content analyzed for sex and violence. The survey outcomes of interest included adolescent sexual behavior, aggressive behavior, and both behaviors together, as well as empathy, which was included as a moderator. The exposure to movie character behavior was matched to adolescents’ survey responses. Results showed that empathy was a predictor of media exposure to sex and violence in movies, and was a moderator of the exposure-behavior relationship. The exposure-behavior relationship was moderated by empathy, such that empathy had an ameliorating effect on the exposure-behavior relationship, but did not negate it completely. This study furthers our understanding of how exposure to sexual and violent content in media, combined with individual differences, may play a role in adolescent enactment of risky behaviors.

摘要

性和暴力媒体内容很普遍，接触这些内容的青少年可能更有可能做出危险的性和攻击性行为。根据差异易感性模型，性格特征，例如同理心，可以预测有风险的媒体曝光，并调节曝光与行为之间的关系。共有 2,424 名美国青少年（14 至 17 岁）参与了一项在线研究，该研究测量了对性和暴力进行分析的电影内容列表中同一角色的性接触、暴力及其同时出现的情况。感兴趣的调查结果包括青少年性行为、攻击性行为以及这两种行为，以及同理心，其中包括作为调节者。接触电影角色行为与青少年的调查反应相匹配。结果表明，同理心是媒体对电影中性和暴力曝光的预测因子，并且是曝光-行为关系的调节因子。暴露-行为关系受到共情的调节，因此共情对暴露-行为关系有改善作用，但并没有完全否定它。这项研究进一步加深了我们对媒体中性和暴力内容的接触以及个体差异如何在青少年制定危险行为中发挥作用的理解。