Television viewing and adolescents' judgment of sexual request scripts: A latent growth curve analysis in early and middle adolescence

A longitudinal study was conducted to explore the relationship between television viewing and beliefs about expressing sexual desire in dating situations. In three consecutive years, a panel of early adolescents (N = 883) and a panel of middle adolescents (N = 651) rated the effectiveness of a sexual approach and a romantic approach. Latent growth curve analyses indicate that between the ages of 12 and 15 there is a growing belief in the effectiveness of the sexual approach, which was related to respondents' maturity status but unrelated to television viewing, and a weakening belief in the effectiveness of the romantic strategy, a decline that appeared to be quickened by television viewing in the female sample and slowed down by television viewing in the male sample. Between the ages of 15 and 18 television viewing reinforces a respondent's belief in the effectiveness of both the sexual and the romantic strategy.