MD KHALIL MD KASHFI Research question: How do media play a role in influencing sexual behavior for young adolescents in Brunei?

1. The Mass Media are an important Context for Adolescents Sexual Behavior a) Methodology and Procedures: The sampling frame from this survey consists of 1011 Black and White adolescents from 14 public schools in Southeastern United States. With parental consent, these adolescents were interviewed in their homes by using Audio-Computer Assisted Self Interview (Audio-CASI). The media survey questions the adolescents about the frequency of their use of media, particularly TV, movies, music and magazines. They were also given extensive list of vehicles to circle from each of the media stated, which are then used to conduct content analysis on its sexual compositions. From the frequency of adolescents media usage as well as portrayal of sexual behavior, these authors are able to compute Sexual Media Diet (SMD) score. The impact on these variables such as family, religion, school and media on sexual intentions, heavy or light sexual activity are assessed by using multiple linear regressions. Each of these analyses is then controlled for the consequences of age, gender, race and socioeconomic status. b) Conclusion(s) of the Author(s) They found that adolescents who are exposed to more sexual content in the media diets, and who perceive greater support from the media for teen sexual behavior,

report more sexual activity and greater intentions to engage in sexual intercourse in the near future (LEngle, Brown and Kenneavy, 2006, p.191). From this research they postulate that this strong relationship is a consequent of medias role as an importance source of sexual internalization. They also made mentioned that, sexual information that is received from media and peers are different from what they learn from parents, schools etc. Media is strong enough to delineate the positive school based-health programs or traditional sexual values. 2. Watching Sex on Television Predicts Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Behaviour a) Methodology and Procedures: It was conducted by using longitudinal survey of 1792 adolescents aged from 12 to 17 years old for 2 years (one for baseline in spring 2001 and another as a follow up in spring 2002). They conducted a national survey via the telephone in from the list that they had bought from Survey Sampling Inc. On the second wave of the study, only 88% of the participants from their baseline year which consists of 48% female, 77% white, 13% African American, 7% Hispanic and 4% Asian or other race (Collins, Elliot, Berry, Kanouse, Kunkel, Hunter and Miu, 2004, p.282) participated. Questions that address participants sexual behavior towards the opposite sex were asked which includes coital and non-coital sexual behavior during the baseline and follow up interview are scored. These findings are then analyzed by using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Baseline virgins with comprehensive data were used as a control for sexual behavior. b) Conclusion(s) of the Author(s):
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In their study, Collins et al. (2004) found out that [t]he significant coefficient for sexual content indicates that, after more than a dozen other predictors of sexual behavior were taken into account, exposure to TV sexual content remained strong predictor of intercourse initiation (p.285). Their study shows that there is positive

association with initiation of intercourse with viewing TV that has sexual content. Viewing sexual content on TV may increase the chance for sexual initiations among adolescents. 3. The Role of Religiosity in the relationship Between Parents, Peers, and Adolescent Sexual Behavior. a) Methodology and Procedures Landor, Simons, Simons, Brody and Gibbons (2011) conduct a survey study with a final sample of 612 African American adolescents (335 females and 277 males) as well as their primary caregivers from small towns and cities of Iowa and Georgia. Out of 4 waves of data, only 2 of the waves data were used (Wave 3 which targets 15 to 16 years old and Wave 4 which targets adolescents aged 18 and 19 years old). These data were taken 2 years apart. The study entails two home visits for each family. AudioCAPI was employed as a way for participants to complete a self-report questionnaire during the first home visit (privately). Parental religiosity, adolescents religiosity, parental authoritativeness and adolescents affiliation with their less sexually permissive peers were asked. Data from the study are analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), chi square test as well as Comparative Fit Index (CFI). To compensate for missing data, Full Information
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Maximum Likelihood (FIML) was utilized. Furthermore, separate analysis was conducted for different genders on risky social behavior. b) Conclusion(s) of the Author(s) There is an inverse relation between strict parenting and adolescent engaging in risky sexual behavior. All the three risky behaviors that these authors identified in their studies are negatively related to religiosity. For females particularly, authoritative parenting has a negative association with them hanging out with peers that has high sexually permissive behavior. As for male, their tendency to involve themselves depends on their own religiosity and their parents parenting style. High self -religiosity and strict parents parenting style can defer males from engaging in risky sexual behavior. 4. Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazines predicts Black and While Adolescents Sexual Behavior. a) Methodology and procedures To conduct this research, the authors employ a longitudinal home survey of 1017 black and white adolescents from 14 middle schools in central North Carolina that completed two waves of interviews (2002 & 2004). The samples of adolescents were randomly picked which comprises of equal numbers of males, females, whites and blacks. For the second interview, researchers employed the use of audio-CASI system. Several measures were taken to conduct this research as such as adolescents pre-coital behavior, whether they have had sex or not in relation to their opposite sex or

in gender neutral way for those who are unsure of their heterosexuality. To ask for precoital sexual behavior, a multi item questions were asked and the answers are added up to generate the level of pre coital behavior. This goes the same for when they asked for age at first sexual intercourse. Control variables such as age, gender, status, ethnicity, socio-economic status, parent education etc. were also asked. By weighting the frequency of the 4 media used and the frequency of sexual content in it, the authors were able to construct a new measure of Teens Sexual Media Diet (SMD). b) Conclusion(s) of the Author(s) They have found out that adolescents who have a high SMD are likely to engage in sexual behavior. However with ethnicity added to the equation as well as other variable factors, they found that the above holds true only for white adolescent. According to the study, Black adolescents are more influenced by perception of their parental expectations and their peers sexual behavior than the media in the first place. Perception of their friends having sex is also argued to be influential for adolescents in engaging in sexual behavior. Interestingly, this perception is in turn influenced by the media that adolescents attend to. 5. Adolescent and Parent Perceptions of Media Influence on Adolescent Sexuality a) Methodology and procedures: This study was conducted to explore perceptions of adolescents (girls average age = 13 and boys average age = 14) and their parents on adolescents sexuality. These researchers conducted a focus group interview which consists of adolescent children and their parents which are recruited through snowball sampling from rural and
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urban communities in Southwest Michigan. Male adolescents and their parents are separated from female adolescents and their parents. They were asked questions as a starter which are followed by a follow up questions. b) Conclusion(s) of the Author(s) In their studies, they found out that [A]dolescents seemed indifferent to media influence (e.g., media influence was mentioned in only one adolescent focus group), but their parents expressed significant concern about media influence (Werner-Wilson, Fitzharris, & Morrissey, 2004, p.311). They suggested the need to make adolescents aware that concerns about the media are important and valid.

Critique of the research cited above: The research above (LEngle et al., 2006, Collins et al., 2004, Brown et al., 2006 & Werner-Wilson et al., 2004) put forth the importance and vitality of media in influencing youth sexual behavior. While some of them focuses more on the media portray on TV, others focuses more on other kinds of media such as magazines, music and movies. Most of them have confirmed that indeed, exposure to media that has sexual content in it will likely to influence sexual behavior of adolescents. However, in my opinion, by using just quantitative method without any supplementation on qualitative data weakens its credibility. What other factors can be identified that prompt these adolescents in engaging in sexual behavior? I am sure that some of these adolescents who are exposed to media with high sexual content also have different reasons for their engagement with sexual behavior besides the given
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data. The social variables that are used in these studies do not necessarily encompass all of the factors that adolescents are exposed to because as individuals we are exposed to different social factors. LEngle et al. (2006) and Werner et al.s (2004) studies for example, only show the general opinions of adolescents in public school. If they were to include adolescents from private school, their results might not be the same and even if it did, their claim on generalizability would be much more credible. In addition, by codifying their response, these adolescents negotiations of media messages that have sexual content that they are exposed to are not accounted for. While Collins et al. (2004) study shows the predictability of adolescents initiation of sexual behavior from watching sexual content on the media and the positive association of both, does it necessarily mean that other factors that induce the adolescents to initiate sexual behavior should be disregard? More than often, it is

important for researchers to imbue their research with voices of the youth as opposed to simply talking about them. This way, we can understand what goes in these childrens head. Just because they do not have the same developmental schema as adult does not mean their opinions are not valid. But then again, it must be noted that it is very hard for us to take in opinions and meanings given by different individuals and the focus study done by Werner-Wilson et al. (2004) shows that. Nevertheless, this study did show that there are differences between adolescents and parents point of view with regards to media messages. This study also shows us the importance of ensuring and educating children on how to negotiate media messages that they see.

While media is held as important factor, these studies also highlighted peer as an important influence in adolescents sexual behavior. Furthermore, the study conducted by Landor et al. (2004), shows the importance of religion as means to control adolescents sexual behavior. However, their notion of religiosity (even though they add up two more notions than most studies that they have cited) is rather limited. Notions of religiosity extend far beyond the ones that are conceptualized in their study. These studies also seem to suggest that adolescents do not have power over the media messages that they are exposed to. David Buckingham (2002) postulate that both the individuals and the media message have some kind of power over one another depending on the context of the cultural milieu in which one is arguing. Comprehending the ways in which people develop their identities (and in this case their sexuality) via media need not be understood in an either/or manner in terms of their exposure to it. There are other dynamics that are in place such as culture, education and so on. For Ito et al. (2008), one should not see media or technology as determining or impacting society, culture or individuals, but rather as an embodiments of social and cultural relationships that in turn shape and structure our possibilities for social action and cultural expression (p.4). In other words, while identity formation of individuals can be (but not always) dependent on the media messages and the medium in which it is acquired, it is also dependent on individuals abilities to negotiate [their] social status among peers, gain autonomy from parents, or acquire expertise in related domains such as knowledge seeking on the internet (p.5). One should not only look at the media content as having a power over individuals, but also to look at the social practices in which the media is embedded in (Jenkins, 2006).
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Lastly, these studies seem to only focus more on sexual behavior that is associated with heterosexuality. How does mass media influence sexual initiation or sexual behavior of homosexual adolescents or homosexual experimentation among adolescents? Clearly, further studies need to compensate for the limitations of the literature above. Relevance to the research question The studies above inform my research question on media influences on adolescents sexual behavior in Brunei. Even though the research above mostly depic ts American media, this is applicable to Brunei. Brunei Darussalam is a modern sultanate country located in South East Asia with a population of more than 6500000 people. Brunei is ranked to be the 5th richest country in the world by the International Monetary Fund. W. Russell Neuman (1991) argues that in general, "[W]e are witnessing the evolution of a universal interconnected network of audio, video, and electronic text communications that will blur the distinction between interpersonal and mass communication and between public and private communication" (p.12). Technology savvy individuals, consisting of youth populations as a majority, are able to use internet to download TV shows via torrent sites or simply by going on to Youtube, or receive vast amount of information from different parts of the world. This is exactly what

adolescents in Brunei are doing and are exposed to. They are mostly exposed to the American media via torrent download sited, video stream sites etc.

However, it must also be noted that Brunei is also a Muslim country and the Islamic way of life is expected of every adolescents. Various efforts by government agencies have been made to ensure that these ideals are practiced by Bruneians which includes inculcating the philosophy as a part of the curricula in primary and secondary schools and as a mandatory course to be taken by Bruneians in higher institutions. Through my observations (and my experience as adolescent), youth are found to be constantly negotiating their identities. While they are exposed to Islamic discourse they are also exposed to media discourse that they acquired from internet as well media discourses that are controlled by the government. The studies above provide a framework from which I can extend from to answer my research question. I am looking forward to see how media (particularly American media) actually influences adolescents in Brunei whom in turn, are also exposed to multiple social discourses in their lives.

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References: Brown, J.D., LEngle, K.L., Pardun, C.J., Guo, G., Kenneavy, K. & Jackson, C. (2006). Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazines predicts Black and While Adolescents Sexual Behavior. Pediatrics, 117(4), 186-192. Retrieved from: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/117/4/1018.full.pdf+html Buckingham, D. (2000). After the Death of Childhood: Growing Up in the Age of Electronic Media. Cambridge: Polity Press. Collins, R.L., Elliot, M.N., Berry, S.H., Kanouse, D.E., Kunkel, D., Hunter, S.B. & Miu, A. (2004). Pediatrics, 114(3). Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/114/3/e280.full.pdf+html Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M., Boyd. D., Cody, R., Herr, B., Horst, H.A., Lange, P.G., Mahendran, D., Martinez, K., Pascoe, C.J., Perkel, D., Robinson, L., Sims, C., & Tripp, L. (with Antin, J., Finn, M., Law, A., Manion, A., Mitnick, S., Schlossberg, D,. & Yardi, S. (2009). Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press. Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press. LEngle, K.L., Brown, J.D. & Kenneavy, K. (2006). The Mass Media are an important context for adolescents sexual behavior. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38, 186-192. Landor, A., Simons, L. G., Simons, R. L., Brody, G. H., & Gibbons, F. X. (2011). The Role of Religiosity in the Relationship Between Parents, Peers, and Adolescent Risky SexualBehavior. Journal of Youth Adolescence, 40, 296-309. Neuman, W.R. (1991). The Future of the Mass Audience. New York: Cambridge University Press. Werner-Wilson, R.J., Fitzharris, J.L & Morrissey, K.M. (2004). Adolescent and Parent Perceptions of Media Influence on Adolescent Sexuality. Adolescence,39(154), 303313.

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