Understanding the Dynamics Behind the Relationship Between Exposure to Negative Consequences of Risky Sex on Entertainment Television and Emerging Adults' Safe-Sex Attitudes and Intentions

Social cognitive theory (SCT; Bandura, 1986 Bandura , A. ( 1986 ). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory . Englewood Cliffs , NJ : Prentice-Hall . [Google Scholar]) has established that people often are inhibited from engaging in a behavior when they observe models experience negative consequences for their actions. Thus, in the realm of sexual portrayals on television, a program that depicts consequences of risky intercourse should reduce the likelihood that a viewer would respond positively. In addition, SCT suggests that a consequence's intensity and type play a role in viewer outcomes and that it is difficult to inhibit behaviors that one has personal experience with. These assumptions were tested in this study. Results showed that emerging adults with high sexual risk experience were not influenced by television portrayals of negative consequences to risky sex. Effects of exposure were identified only among participants who did not have a high amount of sexual risk experience, such that they reported safer-sex outcomes. Outcomes differed based on the type of consequence participants were exposed to.