Recent literature has illustrated the effects that gender scripts have on both adolescent girls as well as boys (Bouchey 2007). Bouchey (2007) examined the effects of perceived romantic competence on psychosocial wellbeing for older adolescents. He found that perceived romantic competence is closely tied to how well an individual can perform romantic gender scripts as they outline the appropriate behaviors and responses in a romantic setting. This study illustrates that an adolescent’s relationship ability, therefore the ability to live up to the gender scripts of romantic relationships have an effect on their self-worth. This relates to my research topic, because gender scripts in television, specifically those that are stereotypical, have an influence on adolescents’ development of their gender identity. This study found that adolescents’ ability to live up to their gender scripts has an influence on their self worth, so if adolescents are viewing skewed and problematic representations of gender in television, their self-worth will be negatively affected.
Bogt, Engels, Bogers, and Kloosterman (2010) examined the links between media exposure, and sexual attitudes among teenagers developing their behaviors and worldviews. They found that particularly for girls, high levels of overall TV exposure were linked to higher approval of permissive sex and stronger stereotyping. This is evidence that exposure to media that depicts stereotypical male/female characters can influence adolescents’ attitudes and behaviors towards gender and sex. Additionally, boys’ preference for sports and, more so, erotic TV content were associated relatively strongly to sexual attitudes and stereotypes (SAS). Finally, they found that boys liking romantic movies was linked with positively evaluating permissive sex and believing that men are sexdriven, again illustrating the affect of television on adolescent development.
Rivadeneyra and Lebo (2008) wanted to investigate the relationship between television use and gender role attitudes and behavior in dating situations. They found a connection between traditional gender role attitudes in dating and watching “romantic” television programming (Rivadeneyra and Lebo 2008). They argued that adolescents may be particularly vulnerable to televisual messages as teenagers spend a large amount of time consuming media. Additionally, adolescents’ analytical thinking skills are not fully developed and are inexperienced with these topics, which may make them more susceptible to the influence of these images. This argument and research study examined a similar relationship to my research topic, that relationship being the one between adolescents’ exposure to messages on television and their formation of attitudes and beliefs about gender. This study reveals the impact that television gender scripts can have on its adolescent audience. The authors suggest that next to the actual dating experiences, adolescents also may be learning from television programs that dating is a gendered process with prescribed roles for males and females (Rivadeneyra and Lebo 2008).
One finding showed that “viewing sexual content on TV was associated with less negative expectations about the potential consequences of having intercourse (e.g., social acceptance/rejection, STD infection, and pregnancy)” (Martino et al. 2005:921). The researchers state that television programs rarely portray instances of the possible negative aftermath of sex. Again, this study illustrates the potential negative influences of television on adolescents’ behaviors and attitudes. Adolescents who are exposed to such sexual content on television can be easily influenced by what they see on the screen, whether or not it is an accurate portrayal of gender.
Two major studies conducted in 2006 investigated the connection between television watching and the sexual attitudes and behaviors of adolescents. The first study researched how the mass media provides a context for the sexual behaviors of adolescents (L’engle, Brown and Kenneavy 2006). The researchers found that adolescents who watched more sexual content on television and who believed that this content was support for teenage sexual behavior were more likely to be involved in those activities (L’engle, Brown and Kenneavy 2006). The main theme that arose in this study shows that what adolescents perceive on television can have an impact on their actions. Similarly to the previous study in this literature review, this study provides evidence of just how powerful an influence television can be on the adolescent mind.
Ward and Friedman (2006) also found a correlation between frequent television viewing and sexual stereotypes of the adolescent participants. They found that the stronger the identification with the characters on television, the greater levels of sexual experience that the teenagers reported (Ward and Friedman 2006). This finding correlates greatly to the social cognitive theory as adolescents identify with and use the characters on television as role models and are consequently influenced by their attitudes and behaviors (Ward and Friedman 2006). This is yet another example of how misrepresentation of gender roles portrayed in television for adolescent consumption can influence their behaviors, and their beliefs about gender norms in society.
Bogt, Engels, Bogers and Kloosterman (2010) found that adolescents’ preferences for media, such as television programs, were associated with gender stereotypes and their sexual attitudes. The findings showed that the programs that teenagers are seeking out and choosing to watch are the programs that influence their attitudes and behaviors (ter Bogt et al. 2010). In this way, adolescents are seeking out media to reinforce their attitudes and beliefs about gender and sexual behaviors (ter Bogt et al. 2010). This can be very problematic for adolescents who are in the process of forming their beliefs and attitudes towards sex and gender, especially if the media they are consuming is portraying stereotypically gendered characters.
The adolescent age group is already one that can be easily influenced, and many children at this age have not already been exposed to traditional gender and sex roles. That being said, adolescents who have not been previously exposed to these roles, but have been exposed to the stereotypes they see on television, may be at risk of developing a skewed view on gender norms.