Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Hsi-Ping Nieh, MS, MA, Institute of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Taipei, Taiwan
Hsing-Yi Chang, DR.PH, Center for Health Policy Research and Development, National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan, Miaoli County, Taiwan
Lee-Lan Yen, ScD, Institute of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Taipei, Taiwan
Use and gratification theory states that audience selects channel and content of media to gratify their needs. This study investigates how pubertal timing affects the trajectory of pornography use in adolescence. Sample consists of 2236 subjects from Child and Adolescent Behaviors in Long-term Evolution (CABLE) project. Group-Based Trajectory Modeling is used to identify trajectory of pornography use from middle to high school, and multinomial logistic regression is used to examine the association between pubertal timing and the trajectory.
Four pornography use trajectory groups are identified for boys: early-start heavy user (16.58%), gradual adopter (39.78%), late bloomer (22.49%) and non-user (21.15%). For girls, 3 groups are identified: early-start heavy user (16.25%), gradual adopter (26.52%), and non-user (57.23%). Late developers relative to early developers are more likely to be non-users than gradual adopters (OR: 2.379 for boys and 1.964 for girls) and are less likely to be early-start heavy users than gradual adopters (OR: 0.363 for boys and 0.526 for girls). Peer use of pornography is a strong predictor for teenagers’ pornography use trajectory. Teenagers who report more peer use are more likely to start watching pornography early and more often. The odds ratios for trajectory groups by pubertal timing decreased, when peer use is introduced. For boys some odds ratios even become insignificant, suggesting a full mediating effect. Early maturation is a risk factor for heavy use of pornography. Peer use is a possible mediator between pubertal timing and pornography use. Media literacy and sex education for teenagers should take into account adolescents’ pubertal development.
Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Communication and informatics
Social and behavioral sciences
Learning Objectives:
Describe the trajectory of pornography use for teenagers who have different pubertal timing.
Keyword(s): Youth, Media
Presenting author’s disclosure statement:
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a doctoral student in School of Public Health and also work as an instructor in Journalism and Mass Communication program in an university. My research focus is to apply communication principles on public health issues.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.
Back to: 4283.0: Tune In, Turn On, Get Healthy? Media, Communication and Health (organized by HCWG)
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