Getting What They Deserve? Consequences of Sexual Expression by Central Characters in Five Popular Television Teen Dramas in the United States

Abstract

Exposure to sexual portrayals in the media can play a major role in the sexual socialization of adolescents. Adolescent viewers of popular television teen dramas may model the sexual attitudes and behaviors of characters with which they develop a parasocial relationship and perceive as similar to him or herself. This content analysis was thus conducted to examine the sexual portrayals of sixty-four central characters from the 2009 to 2010 season of five popular television teen dramas in the United States. Results indicate gender equality in the sexual portrayals of female and male characters, as both were equally likely to engage in sexual expression and experience positive and negative consequences. Consequences experienced were primarily emotional and social, though negative consequences were more frequent than positive. Sexual talk was associated with experiencing both negative and positive consequences; however, sexual behavior (light sexual behavior and implicit sex) was only associated with positive consequences. Implications for how exposure to such portrayals may impact the sexual behaviors of adolescent viewers are discussed.