Ambivalent messages in Seventeen Magazine: a content analytic comparison of 1997 and 2007

Previous content analyses of teen girl magazines have investigated the concept of sexual ambivalence--messages about sex and sexuality that contradict each other. However, no study to date has examined a more encompassing notion of sexual ambivalence by focusing on relationship ambivalence (i.e., contradictory notions of what constitutes, and is acceptable in, romantic relationships between two partners) and gender role ambivalence (i.e., contradictory ideas about what it means to be masculine or feminine). Moreover, no study has compared the coverage at different points in time. Thus, this study offers a content analysis of sexual, relationship, and gender role ambivalence of texts and images in the teen girl magazine Seventeen from 1997 and 2007. Results show that ambivalence occurred for type of sex (casual vs. committed), the consequences of a romantic relationship (positive vs. negative), and type of clothing (sexy vs. non-sexy). In conclusion, this study has extended the ambivalence concept--which is increasingly used to understand adolescent femininity--to the analysis of the teen girl magazine Seventeen. Findings may be used to develop media literacy programs for teenage girls.