Abstract
Previous research has suggested that adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit internet material (SEIM) may result in sexual uncertainty because the content of SEIM may conflict with what adolescents have learned about sex. However, research on which type of adolescent is most susceptible to the relation between SEIM use and sexual uncertainty is lacking. This study therefore investigated whether the relationship between SEIM use and sexual uncertainty depends on within-gender differences in sexual dispositions (i.e., impersonal sex orientation and hypergendered orientation). Using data from a representative two-wave panel survey among 1765 Dutch adolescents (aged 13–17), I found that SEIM use predicted sexual uncertainty only among girls with a low hypergendered orientation and girls with a relatively high impersonal sex orientation.
Highlights
Explicit internet material (SEIM) is increasingly considered an influence on adolescent sexuality, given its high amount of sexual content and the high number of adolescents who encounter such material online
The regression coefficients indicated a positive influence of Sexually explicit internet material (SEIM) on sexual uncertainty for girls, and this influence became even stronger as impersonal sex orientation increased(seeTable 3).Totest H1arigorously,post-hocanalyses on the three-way interactions were conducted
This study aimed at extending previous research on the sexual uncertainty hypothesis (Peter & Valkenburg, 2010; Sparks, 2013)
Summary
Explicit internet material (SEIM) is increasingly considered an influence on adolescent sexuality, given its high amount of sexual content and the high number of adolescents who encounter such material online (for a review, see Owens, Behun, Manning, & Reid, 2012). Several scholars have pointed out that the sexual content that adolescents encounter may conflict with beliefs about sexuality that adolescents have adopted from families, schools, and peers (e.g., Arnett, 1995; Thornburgh & Lin, 2002; Wolak et al, 2007). In this context, researchers have recently started to pay attention to the sexual uncertainty hypothesis (Sparks, 2013). Sexual uncertainty refers to being unclearabout one’s sexual beliefs and values, and may show in poorly integrated, unclearly defined, and temporally unstable sexual beliefs (Peter & Valkenburg, 2008)
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