| Literature indicates that 72% of adolescent girls are exposed to sexually explicit Internet material (SEIM) before the age of 18, and between 2% - 30% of girls report intentionally seeking SEIM. Despite the recognition that adolescent girls are consuming SEIM, and that their use impacts behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes, there has been limited attention paid to their experience of SEIM use. Findings have suggested that adolescent girls often use SEIM as a tool for sex education, posing high risks in the development of ideas about sex, sexuality, intimacy, and relationships based on unrealistic depictions of sex in SEIM. This dissertation examined the psychosexual impacts on adolescent girls viewing SEIM and factors, such as caregiver-teen communication, that protect adolescent girls from the negative impacts of their SEIM use. The dissertation explored how exposure and use of SEIM affects adolescent girls' ideas of sex, perceptions of self, beliefs, attitudes, sexual relationships, sexual behaviors, and health. Grounded in an extensive review of the literature within the topic area, the dissertation addressed protective factors against the negative impacts of SEIM exposure and discussed the development of a psycho-educational booklet for primary caregivers of adolescent girls. Open and honest communication between the primary caregiver and adolescent about sex and sexuality has been found to reduce adolescents' risky sexual behaviors and contribute their development of a healthy sexual self. As a means to disseminate the literature findings, a psycho-educational booklet for primary caregivers of adolescent girls was developed within the framework of Protection Motivation Theory.;keywords: sexually explicit Internet material, adolescent girls and online pornography, Protection Motivation Theory, teen girls and online pornography. |
