Adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit Internet material and notions of women as sex objects: assessing causality and underlying processes

The aim of this study was to clarify causality in the previously established link between
adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit Internet material (SEIM) and notions of women
as sex objects. Furthermore, the study investigated which psychological processes underlie this link and whether the various influences varied by gender. On the basis of data from a three-wave panel survey among 962 Dutch adolescents, structural equation modeling initially showed that exposure to SEIM and notions of women as sex objects had a reciprocal direct influence on each other. The direct impact of SEIM on notions of women as sex objects did not vary by gender. However, the direct influence of notions of women as sex objects on exposure to SEIM was only significant for male adolescents. Further analyses showed that, regardless of adolescents’ gender, liking of SEIM mediated the influence of exposure to SEIM on their beliefs that women are sex objects, as well as the impact of these beliefs on exposure to SEIM.