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. 2021 Mar-Apr;58(3):322-330.
doi: 10.1080/00224499.2021.1873226. Epub 2021 Jan 31.

Sex and Violence in the Movies: Empathy as a Moderator of the Exposure-Behavior Relationship in Adolescents

Katharine M Mitchell  1 , Morgan E Ellithorpe  1 , Amy Bleakley  2
Affiliations

Sex and Violence in the Movies: Empathy as a Moderator of the Exposure-Behavior Relationship in Adolescents

Katharine M Mitchell et al. J Sex Res. 2021 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Sexual and violent media content is prevalent, and adolescents exposed to this content may be more likely to enact risky sexual and aggressive behaviors. According to the Differential Susceptibility Model, dispositional traits, such as empathy, can predict risky media exposure and moderate the relationship between exposure and behavior. A total of 2,424 US adolescents (ages 14-17) participated in an online study that measured exposure to sex, violence, and their co-occurrence from the same character in a list of movies content analyzed for sex and violence. The survey outcomes of interest included adolescent sexual behavior, aggressive behavior, and both behaviors together, as well as empathy, which was included as a moderator. The exposure to movie character behavior was matched to adolescents' survey responses. Results showed that empathy was a predictor of media exposure to sex and violence in movies, and was a moderator of the exposure-behavior relationship. The exposure-behavior relationship was moderated by empathy, such that empathy had an ameliorating effect on the exposure-behavior relationship, but did not negate it completely. This study furthers our understanding of how exposure to sexual and violent content in media, combined with individual differences, may play a role in adolescent enactment of risky behaviors.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Generic model. Empathy predicts risky media exposure, and also moderates the relationship between risky media exposure and risky behavior.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Interaction between exposure to sex content and empathy predicting likelihood of engaging in sex with protection as compared to no sex behavior. As exposure to sex content increases, the likelihood of sex behavior increases, but especially for those low in empathy.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Interaction between exposure to sex and violence content and empathy predicting likelihood of engaging in sex and aggression as compared to neither behavior. As exposure to sex and violence combination content increases, the likelihood of sex and aggression behavior increases, but especially for those low in empathy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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