Adolescents' Sexual Media Use and Willingness to Engage in Casual Sex: Differential Relations and Underlying Processes

The present study investigated the relationship between different types of sexual media use (i.e., sexually explicit internet material, sexually oriented reality TV, and sexy self-presentations on social network sites) and adolescents' willingness to engage in casual sex, as well as underlying sociocognitive processes of this relationship. Drawing on a longitudinal three-wave panel study among 1,467 adolescents (aged 13–17, 50% female), we found that exposure to sexually explicit Internet material directly predicted adolescents' willingness to engage in casual sex. Exposure to sexy self-presentations of others on social network sites and sexually oriented reality TV predicted adolescents' willingness to engage in casual sex indirectly through descriptive peer norms on casual sex.