MASARYK UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF SOCIAL STUDIES
Czech Republic
Institute for Research on Children, Youth and the Family
Exposure to Sexually Explicit Materials among Czech Early
Adolescents: Comparison with European Youth
Anna Ševčíková
David Šmahel
The presented research was supported by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth
and Sports (MSM0021622406 and 1P05ME751).
Introduction I
• Media/online exposure to sexually explicit materials (SEM):
The material depicts sexual activity in unconcealed ways
and this material can mediated by some media such as the internet
• Triple-A-engine theory: the internet sexuality is characteristic by
Anonymity, Accessibility & Affordability (Cooper, 1998)  online sexual
explicit materials are easily accessible, affordable and anonymously shared
• Predictors for online exposure to sexually explicit materials:
• Demographic characteristics – gender & age
• More boys than girls (Mesch, 2009; Peter & Valkenburg, 2006; Vybíral,
Smahel, Divínová, 2004; Ybarra & Mitchell, 2005; Flood, 2007; Wolak, Mitchell, &
Finkelhor, 2007)
• More older adolescence than younger ones (Wolak, Mitchell, &
Finkelhor, 2007)
Introduction II
• Predictors for (online) exposure to sexually explicit materials:
•Psychosocial characteristics – need for sensation (Brown & L’Engle, 2009;
Peter & Valkenburg, 2006), emotional problems (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2005),
weak social bonds to family and school (Mesch, 2009)  psychosocial
challenges
• Study justification and study goals:
1) Although early adolescents are regular media users - limited studies on early
adolescent consumers of sexual explicit materials
•
•
What are characteristics of early adolescents reporting online exposure to
SEM?
What kind of psychosocial challenges do they face?
Methods
•Data origin:
•EU Kids Online II project, which contains representative samples of at
least 1,000 youth aged 9 to 16 years from 25 European countries.
• a subsample of youth aged 10 to15 years (N = 17.720)
• Measures:
1) Online exposure to SEM: A brief description of sexual materials was followed by
the question “Have you seen anything of this kind in the past 12 months”
online exposure was distinguished by “Have you seen these kind of things on any
websites in the past 12 months?”
2) Being bothered: “Thinking about the last time you were bothered by something
like this, how upset did you feel about it (if at all)? (from “very upset” to “not at all
upset”)
3) Sensation need: “I do dangerous things for fun” & “I do exciting things, even if they
are dangerous” (alpha = .0772)
4) Offline risky behavior: 7-item scale, e.g. “Missed school lessons without my
parents knowing” (Alpha = 0.627)
5) Emotional problems: 5-item scale, e.g. “I worry a lot” (Alpha = 0.649)
6) Self-efficacy: 4-item scale (Alpha = 0.654)
C
46 45
42
42 41 39
37
37 35 33
33 30
29 28
28
U
Ir e K
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C nd
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ru
Tu s
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et ed
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a
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ul
ga
r
G ia
re
R ec
om e
an
A ia
us
t
Po ria
l
P o an d
rt
ug
al
Exposure to SEM
Exposure to SEM in EU (%)
24 24 24 24 23
17 17
14
12 10
C
R
ep
ub
N lic
o
Li rwa
th
y
ua
D ni
en a
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Sw ark
ed
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E
N
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et to
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rl a ia
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u
Fr m
a
B n ce
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Sl ari
ov a
en
Fi ia
nl
a
Po nd
la
A nd
u
R stri
om a
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ia
U
Ire K
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G nd
re
Po ece
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ug
C al
yp
r
Tu us
r
H key
un
ga
r
Sp y
G ai
er n
m
an
y
Ita
ly
ze
ch
Exposure to SEM and gender
Exposure to SEM according to gender
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Male
Female
Exposure across media – Czech children
Exposure to SEM - types of media (%) - Czech
63
52
45
8
Internet - web
site
On television,
film or
video/DVD
In a magazine or
book
By text (SMS),
images (MMS),
or otherwise on
my mobile phone
5
By Bluetooth
Exposure to SEM according to the age
Exposure to SEM according to the age
66
70
60
50
EU without CZ
40
33
30
32
30
20
20
12
10
0
10 - 11 years 12 - 13 years 14 - 15 years
CZ
Bothered by the sexual exposure
• 35% of children reported being bothered by this experience
(30% of males, 41% of females)
Bothered by the exposure
60
50
49
44
42
40
40
30
20
EU without CZ
28
CZ
18
10
0
10 - 11 years 12 - 13 years 14 - 15 years
How upset did they feel?
How upset did you feel about it? (whole Europe)
14 - 15
years
10
31
39
20
Very upset
12 - 13
years
17
27
44
11
Fairly upset
A bit upset
10 - 11
years
20
0%
29
20%
40%
44
60%
7
80%
100%
Not at all upset
Predictors for exposure to SEM - CZ
Model
1 (Constant)
Self-efficacy
Offline risk behavior
Sensation seeking
Emotial problems
2 (Constant)
Self-efficacy
Offline risk behavior
Sensation seeking
Emotial problems
Age
Gender
B
,739
,211
1,255
,232
,125
-,893
,055
,777
,189
,222
,178
-,224
Std. Error
,258
,088
,254
,037
,099
,348
,085
,247
,035
,095
,021
,073
Beta
,093
,195
,253
,048
,024
,121
,206
,084
,317
-,114
t Sig.
2,868 ,004
2,406 ,016
4,938 ,000
6,262 ,000
1,264 ,207
-2,568 ,010
,641
,522
3,148 ,002
5,327 ,000
2,333 ,020
8,358 ,000
-3,082 ,002
Discussion & Conclusion
•
The internet as a main source of SEM in CZ (63%)
•The concept of triple-A-engine seems to be relevant
•
Czech early adolescents report increased exposure to SEM
• the Czech Republic known as a country with liberal attitudes towards sexual
behavior - has a higher number of sex partners compared to, for example, than
United States (Weiss, Kučera, & Svěráková, 1995; Weiss & Zvěřina, 2001)
•There is no compulsory sexually focused education of Czech children 
consumption of SEM as a source of information (66% of Czechs vs. 32% of EU
kids at age 14/15)
•Consumption of sexual materials at age 14/15 may include an entertainment
component - debut of masturbation activity among Czech adolescents = 13-15
years (age mean for male=13,97 let & age mean for girls = 16,89 (Weiss a
Zvěřina, 1996) (in accordance to observed higher proportion of males in
exposure)
• Could exposure to SEM at early age associated with poorer parental
surveillance? (high proportion of seen materials on TV, films, video/DVD) (How
can parental monitoring among 14/15-year-olds look like?)
Discussion & Conclusion
•
The observed association between psychosocial challenges (need of sensation,
offline problem behavior and partly emotional problems) and exposure to SEM at
early age supports results from prior works (Brown & L’Engle, 2009; Mesch, 2009;
Peter & Valkenburg, 2006)
•
Observed age differences in exposure proportion support previous findings (Wolak
et al., 2007)
•The older, the higher consumption – related to sexual development (see age
means for masturbation initiation for Czech adolescents)
•
Younger early adolescents are more likely to be bothered by SEM than older
•Developmental status & unwanted exposure to SEM?
 Need for better protection of younger adolescents against exposure to SEM
Thank you for your attention.
Invitation:
Journal call for papers:
Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on
Cyberspace www.cyberpsychology.eu
References
• Smith, P.K., Slonje, R. (2009). The Nature
and Extent of a New Kind of Bullying, In
and Out of School. In Jimerson, S.R.,
Swearer, S.M. & Espelage, D.L. (eds), The
International Handbook of School Bullying.
Mahwah, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.