Sexual Media Exposure and its Effects on the Academic Engagement of First Year College Students

Abstract

Hours are spent daily on various types of media, and by choice or not, exposure to sexuallyexplicit material may occur. Although there are several studies conducted on the negativeeffects of sexual media exposure such as development of sexual aggression and poor academicperformance there is insufficient information regarding its relationship with academicengagement. This study determined the extent of sexual media exposure, degree of academicengagement, the relationship between these aspects, as well as the best predictor of academicengagement among first year college.The study utilized a quantitative, descriptive- correlational design. A purposive samplingtechnique was used to gather 101 respondents using specified criteria. Descriptive andInferential statistics were used in the study. Specifically, the mean, standard deviation,correlation coefficient, regression analysis, t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was usedfor statistical analysis.The study showed that the extent of sexual media exposure of first year college students interms of frequency and duration are low. The study also revealed that the students have a highdegree of academic engagement of first year college students in terms of affective, behavioral,and cognitive faculties. Further, the study revealed that there is no significant relationshipbetween sexual media exposure and student academic engagement. A weak positiverelationship exists between sexual media exposure and affective academic engagement.Finally, findings showed that sex and nationality are the best predictors of student academicengagement.There is no relationship between sexual media exposure and student academic engagement buta weak relationship is perceived in affective academic engagement. It is recommended that thestudy will be conducted in a larger population considering sizeable representation of the givenvariables. It is also suggested that the questionnaire for sexual media exposure will be morespecific, including terminologies that connote actual sexual knowledge, attitude and behavior.To sustain high degree academic engagement, exposure to possibly distracting sexual mediashould be studied