Keywords

Media Effects, cultivation, sex, television, social learning theory

Abstract

Research has shown that sexual content is prevalent in television programming and that this content can have an effect on the viewer's attitudes about sex. This study examined this relationship within the theoretical framework of cultivation and social cognitive theories. This study used a survey to examine these relationships in young students at a large southeastern university. The researchers targeted freshmen, many in their first semester, for this study to get the best measure of attitudes, before they were influenced by college life. In addition to examining the effects of television viewing, the researcher looked at the effects of exposure to other media that may contain sexual content, such as magazines, Internet, DVD's, video games, and music. The study did not find significant relationships between television viewing and students' sexual attitudes and behaviors, but it did find several strong relationships among sexual attitudes and behaviors and students' exposure to other forms of media that may contain sexual content, including music, films, video games, and DVDs.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2006

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Collins, Steven;

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Nicholson School of Communication

Degree Program

Communication

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0001040

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0001040

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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Included in

Communication Commons

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