September 27, 2024, Durham, NC – iRT’s researchers have a wealth of expertise in media literacy education and sexual health research. Teens, Sex, and Media Effects: Understanding Media’s Influence on Adolescent Sexuality, Sexual Health, and Advocacy, the soon-to-be-released book compiling original research related to adolescent sexual health and sexual media, will showcase some of iRT’s work. Drs. Christina Dodson and Tracy Scull authored a chapter for the book highlighting over a decade of iRT’s research on sexual health and media literacy education in a chapter entitled “Media Literacy Education for Comprehensive Sexual Health Promotion.”
Chapters of Teens, Sex, and Media Effects are divided into three sections, each exploring a unique topic related to how adolescents interact with sexual media. Section 1 of the book discusses the role of media in the development of sexual identity. Section 2 examines correlations between sexual media and specific sexual beliefs, experiences, and behaviors in adolescents, such as gender and relationship conceptions, sexual violence, and sexting. Drs. Scull’s and Dodson’s chapter is in Section 3 of the book, “Adolescents as Engagers and Creators: Opportunities for Media Education and Advocacy,” which explores media literacy education, youth-centric digital sexual health education, reproductive health advocacy, and more. Editors Drs. Stacey J.T. Hust, Rebecca Ortiz, and Jessica Fitts Willoughby supplement the research outlined in each section with thoughtful commentaries and introductions.
Media messages about sex can be particularly impactful on young people’s sexual beliefs and behaviors. Young people often look to media – including social media and pornography – as a source of information about sex at times when they are forming critical beliefs about sex and relationships. Without skills to critically analyze media messages, young people may absorb harmful beliefs about consent, sexual violence, contraception, and more. In turn, these beliefs may lead to unhealthy sexual behaviors. In one chapter of Teens, Sex, and Media Effects, iRT Researchers Drs. Dodson and Scull detail important findings from research on iRT’s Media Aware programs. The Media Aware programs are media literacy education-based sexual health programs designed to provide young people with both factual, comprehensive information about sexual health as well as strategies to critically analyze media around them to mitigate any negative impacts of receiving unrealistic, inaccurate, unhealthy messages about sex from media.
The Media Aware programs for middle school students, high school students, and young adults target young people’s critical media attitudes and sexual health cognitions and behaviors. For example, Media Aware for High School students has been shown to decrease students’ beliefs that media accurately portray sex and relationships. Media Aware for Young Adults has been shown to increase young adults’ intentions to use contraception/protection during sex.
Findings from research on the Media Aware programs also indicate that media literacy education-based programming may be a highly acceptable format for sexual health education to adolescents. Media literacy education-based programs may also be a promising approach to sexual health education for young people of several developmental stages and in a variety of educational settings (e.g., online, in person).
Teens, Sex, and Media Effects: Understanding Media’s Influence on Adolescent Sexuality, Sexual Health, and Advocacy is edited by Drs. Rebecca Ortiz, Stacey J.T. Hust, and Jessica Willoughby and can be preordered through the publisher, Routledge, at https://tinyurl.com/4xu95sdx or on Amazon.com (https://tinyurl.com/475kexmz). To read more about this important research in a chapter of the soon-to-be-released Teens, Sex, and Media Effects, subscribe to the iRT newsletter to stay up-to-date on the book’s release: https://irtinc.us/#newsletter and visit www.sexmedia.com.