Sexual Content, Age and Comprehension of

Comprehension

A notable example of the studies that explicitly focused on the issue of comprehension is the study of Silverman-Watkins and Sprafkin, using an observational learning perspective in which media effects are presented as a three-stage process of exposure, acquisition, and acceptance. The researchers focused on the second stage, examining whether children and adolescents understood references to sexuality in television programs. Their results indicated that 12-to-16-year-olds were able to work out the actual meaning of sexual allusions relatively well; a conclusion that was supported by a recent British qualitative study in 9-to-17-year-old schoolchildren. The comprehension scores were different, however, when a distinction is made between diverse types of sexual topics and when comprehension was examined in separate age groups. In the Silverman-Watkins and Sprafkin study, comprehension scores for allusions to intercourse were lower than scores for references to discouraged sexual practices (e.g., homosexuality). Furthermore, both pre- and postpubescent 12-year-olds experienced more difficulty in understanding sexual innuendo than 14- and 16-year-olds. In a more recent study, a group of 8-to-10-year olds was contrasted with viewers between 10 and 12; the latter category understood sexual jokes and innuendos, whereas the younger group reacted rather uncomfortably to the clips they were shown. Additional support for these conclusions was provided by Greenberg and his colleagues; they described that 14- and 15-year-old television viewers easily learned terms previously unheard of on the subjects of prostitution and homosexuality.

Interpretation

The second type of investigation examined how young viewers interpret sexually suggestive messages, including characteristics that contribute to individually different interpretations. Thompson and his colleagues, for instance, noted that the communication style in high school students' families was directly related to the cognitive activity with which they processed a music video about teenage pregnancy. Further studies concluded that inconsistent interpretations emerged in viewers of a different gender, race, or maturity level. Kalof found gender differences in how young viewers constructed the meaning of sexuality and power based on a Michael Jackson video. In a sample of 12-to-15-year-old females, girls who reached puberty earlier than average were more likely to interpret sexually oriented television messages as favorable toward teenage sex. Brown and Schulze reported that white females were more likely to believe that Madonna's “Papa Don't Preach” was about a girl who chose to keep her unborn child, whereas most black males in the study thought that the girl expressed her hopes not to be left by her boyfriend. Another study revealed that readings of sexual contents may also differ according to the sexual schemas and scripts that are used to interpret sexual episodes. Meischke explored how female college students understood the implicit fade-to-black part of a sexual act in an R-rated movie; they found that when the girls' interpretations related to the sexual act itself, they tended to rely on elements of the story. When their interpretations had to [Page 761]do with safe-sex behaviors, however, viewers were more likely to fall back on generalizations about sexual behaviors in real life and in the movies rather than on observations of the plot.

...