R-rated Movie Viewing, Growth in Sensation Seeking and Alcohol Initiation: Reciprocal and Moderation Effects

The current study employed parallel process and discrete time hazard regressions to examine the interplay among exposure to R-rated movies, sensation seeking, and initiation of alcohol use in a national U.S. sample ( N  = 6255) of adolescents, ages 10–14, who were followed over four waves spanning 2...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Prevention science 2010-03, Vol.11 (1), p.1-13
Main Authors: Stoolmiller, Mike, Gerrard, Meg, Sargent, James D., Worth, Keilah A., Gibbons, Frederick X.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior - psychology
Adolescents
Aggressiveness
Alcohol
Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology
Alcohol Drinking - psychology
Alcohol use
Child and School Psychology
Child development
Computer & video games
Developmental psychology
Drug use
Empirical research
Exploratory Behavior
Female
Health Psychology
Humans
Imitative Behavior
Influence
Longitudinal studies
Male
Mass Media
Media
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Motion Pictures
Peer Group
Personality
Prevention
Prospective Studies
Public Health
Regression analysis
Surveys
Teenagers
U.S.A
Visual Perception
Young adults
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Summary:The current study employed parallel process and discrete time hazard regressions to examine the interplay among exposure to R-rated movies, sensation seeking, and initiation of alcohol use in a national U.S. sample ( N  = 6255) of adolescents, ages 10–14, who were followed over four waves spanning 2 years. There was a short-term reciprocal relation between watching R-rated movies and sensation seeking, but over the 2-year observation period, exposure to R-rated movies was associated with increases in sensation seeking and not vice versa. Sensation seeking also moderated the effect of watching R-rated movies on initiation of alcohol consumption such that exposure was associated with greater increases in initiation of alcohol use among low sensation than among high sensation seeking adolescents. The study provides empirical evidence of an environmental media effect on sensation seeking, and important new information about the relations among sensation seeking, media exposure, and adolescent alcohol use.
ISSN:1389-4986
1573-6695
DOI:10.1007/s11121-009-0143-z