Week 3 Article summary Exposure to degrading versus non-degrading music lyrics and sexual
behaviour among youth
•Sex is part of a healthy life, and developing an interest in sex is natural as younger teens undergo
hormonal and other physical changes and older teens begin to take on young adult roles.
•Early sexual initiation creates the potential for significant health risks.
•Unplanned pregnancies and STDs are more common among those who begin sexual activity early,
probably because some youth begin activity before they are prepared for the responsibilities entailed
or because they begin having sex as part of relationships/ circumstances that are less likely to foster
responsible behaviour.
•There is good reason to believe that music may have an important influence on adolescents’ sexual
behaviour.
•For music, adolescents gain information about society, social and gender roles, and expected
behaviour, and they use music to facilitate friendships and social interactions and to help them
create a personal identity. It is reasonable to expect, therefore, that the messages conveyed in
popular music have significant implications for adolescent socialization and behaviour.
•Despite their sexual nature, some researchers have argued that the words of popular songs matter
very little, suggesting that youth do not necessarily understand or even pay attention to lyrical
content. Although listening to music may often be only a secondary activity for many youth, the
sexual references in many popular song may be difficult for them to ignore, because the language
used to describe sex has become increasingly direct.
•There is strong theoretical justification for the notion that listening to sexual lyrics may influence
adolescents´ sexual behaviour.
•According to social cognitive theory, people learn how to perform new behaviours by observing
others and will imitate the behaviours they have observed insofar as those behaviours are
perceived to have functional value. This theory would predict that listening to musicians sing about
having sex with no unfavourable consequences will lead teens to perceive this behaviour as
appropriate and desirable, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will imitate the behaviour. The
likelihood of imitation increases when the model is perceived as attractive or similar to the self.
•Some versions of the social learning theory argue that what people learn from media role models
are scripts. A script typically includes information about what events are likely to occur in a specific
scenario, how a person should behave in that scenario, and what the likely outcomes of their
behaviour will be.
•One depiction of courtship and sexual relationships that is common in youth-oriented media
feature sex-driven males competing with one another for females who are viewed as sexual objects
or conquests whose value is based on their physical appearance. The frequent viewing of which is
associated with stronger endorsement of women as sexual objects and more traditional gender
roles.
•Media researchers have speculated that these types of portrayals may promote sexual self-
objectification (distancing oneself from one’s own desires and actions), thereby promoting early
sexual activity as objectified youth ignore their anxieties surrounding sexual initiation. Repeated
exposure to these portrayals may also lead to the internalization of perceived gender norms that
prescribe sexual degrading behaviour as central to male and female gender roles.
Current study
•This study tests the prospective relationship between exposure to degrading and non-degrading
sexual music content and subsequent changes in adolescent sexual behaviour
•Longitudinal study.
behaviour among youth
•Sex is part of a healthy life, and developing an interest in sex is natural as younger teens undergo
hormonal and other physical changes and older teens begin to take on young adult roles.
•Early sexual initiation creates the potential for significant health risks.
•Unplanned pregnancies and STDs are more common among those who begin sexual activity early,
probably because some youth begin activity before they are prepared for the responsibilities entailed
or because they begin having sex as part of relationships/ circumstances that are less likely to foster
responsible behaviour.
•There is good reason to believe that music may have an important influence on adolescents’ sexual
behaviour.
•For music, adolescents gain information about society, social and gender roles, and expected
behaviour, and they use music to facilitate friendships and social interactions and to help them
create a personal identity. It is reasonable to expect, therefore, that the messages conveyed in
popular music have significant implications for adolescent socialization and behaviour.
•Despite their sexual nature, some researchers have argued that the words of popular songs matter
very little, suggesting that youth do not necessarily understand or even pay attention to lyrical
content. Although listening to music may often be only a secondary activity for many youth, the
sexual references in many popular song may be difficult for them to ignore, because the language
used to describe sex has become increasingly direct.
•There is strong theoretical justification for the notion that listening to sexual lyrics may influence
adolescents´ sexual behaviour.
•According to social cognitive theory, people learn how to perform new behaviours by observing
others and will imitate the behaviours they have observed insofar as those behaviours are
perceived to have functional value. This theory would predict that listening to musicians sing about
having sex with no unfavourable consequences will lead teens to perceive this behaviour as
appropriate and desirable, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will imitate the behaviour. The
likelihood of imitation increases when the model is perceived as attractive or similar to the self.
•Some versions of the social learning theory argue that what people learn from media role models
are scripts. A script typically includes information about what events are likely to occur in a specific
scenario, how a person should behave in that scenario, and what the likely outcomes of their
behaviour will be.
•One depiction of courtship and sexual relationships that is common in youth-oriented media
feature sex-driven males competing with one another for females who are viewed as sexual objects
or conquests whose value is based on their physical appearance. The frequent viewing of which is
associated with stronger endorsement of women as sexual objects and more traditional gender
roles.
•Media researchers have speculated that these types of portrayals may promote sexual self-
objectification (distancing oneself from one’s own desires and actions), thereby promoting early
sexual activity as objectified youth ignore their anxieties surrounding sexual initiation. Repeated
exposure to these portrayals may also lead to the internalization of perceived gender norms that
prescribe sexual degrading behaviour as central to male and female gender roles.
Current study
•This study tests the prospective relationship between exposure to degrading and non-degrading
sexual music content and subsequent changes in adolescent sexual behaviour
•Longitudinal study.
