Adolescent sexuality and media influences in China: Modulating effects of school, family and friends

The primary concern of this study is the role of media in affecting the formation of sexuality among adolescents. The aspects of sexuality under study include attitudes towards love and relationships, stereotypes of gender role and standards of attractiveness. The central contention is that the role of media in the formation of sexuality during adolescence can only be fully understood within the context of the adolescent's life experience in school, at home and with friends.;A research questionnaire survey was conducted in Shanghai, China. Based on cluster sampling strategy, 1428 students from nine secondary schools participated in the study. The respondents completed a 123-items questionnaire that measured their daily media practice, perceptions about the three dimensions of sexuality under study, functioning of school, family and friends, and socio-demographic profile. Furthermore, the quantitative survey is supplemented with a qualitative semi-structured interview to adolescents who have participated in the survey study.;While as proposed, the media appear to be strong predictors of adolescent perceptions of sexuality; this is interrelated with other influential factors like school, family and friends in important ways. For the path to influence, media can affect these perceptions directly and intermediately through the effects on family and friends as well. For the direction of influence, media impact would be strengthened by that of friends but weakened by those of school and family. These findings were illustrated in a structural equation model, which also demonstrated significant associations between the perceptions about sexuality and influential factors other than media, including school, family and friends. By comparing the respective contribution of all of these factors, it was found that friends have the greatest role in shaping adolescent perceptions of sexuality, while media have the second strongest. Both of these are much stronger predictors than are school or family.;These findings validate the assumption that the role of media in the formation of sexuality among adolescents must be investigated in their life experience in school, at home and with friends. The perceptions of sexuality are the result of a confluence of all of these influential sources. The mutual dependencies among these factors made the adolescent life experience essential for understanding the role of media in teenager sexuality development. This provides support for further examination into media and adolescent sexuality development in a more macro-sociological context.;In addition, the study indicates that, as factors become more liberal, the more powerfully they affect the formation of sexual identity among adolescents. For school and family, the two conservative agents, a strong impact on the formation of sexuality among teenagers can be made by teachers in school or parents at home by: (a) adoption of a more open attitude towards sexuality issues; (b) active engagement in instructions or counseling about sexuality issues; (c) provision of extensive information about sexuality that adolescents are seeking; (d) creation of a horizontal environment to facilitate the process; and, specifically for school-based sexuality education, (e) adoption of peer-led sexuality education; and (f) limitation of the classes to a small size.