A new study found that watching sexual reality television stimulated adolescents aged 13-17 to produce and share sexual images of themselves on social media. Similarly, for both boys and girls, sexual self-presentation on social media led to more frequent watching of sexual reality TV. The full study results are reported in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available to download for free on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website until January 1, 2016.
"The Relationship between Sexual Content on Mass Media and Social Media: A Longitudinal Study " Laura Vandenbosch, Johanna van Oosten, and Jochen Peter, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, also examined the relationship between exposure to Internet pornography and teens' social media content. The researchers found no relationship between exposure to pornographic online content and a tendency to distribute sexually suggestive images of themselves on social media for either adolescent girls or boys.
"Mental health professionals should assess adolescents' viewing patterns to help identify possible risk behavior," says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCB, BCN, Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium. "This can then be used as an entry point to prevention measures by teaching adolescents to be more judicious consumers of electronic media."