A Short-Term Longitudinal Exploration of the Impact of TV Exposure on Objectifying Attitudes Toward Women in Early Adolescent Boys

The present study aimed to examine the relationships over time between television viewing (music and tween TV) and boys’ endorsement of sexualized gender roles, that is, views of women as sex objects and men as sexually dominant, as well as a tendency to objectify women’s bodies. As an additional question, we were interested in how parental socialization to gender roles related to these pathways. A sample of 496 Belgian boys aged 11.18 years (SD = 1.06, range = 9–13), participated in a longitudinal study and completed measures three times at 6-month intervals. Findings revealed that music TV was associated with increases in views of men as sexually dominant. Tween TV was associated with increases in views of women as sex objects, which in turn was associated with increased objectification of women’s bodies among adolescents who experienced high levels of gender-typical socialization from their parents. These findings suggest that media exposure among early adolescent boys may contribute to the development of sexually objectifying attitudes toward women. In addition, they highlight the critical role of parents in modulating the effect of media exposure and suggest the usefulness of engaging parents in interventions aiming to decrease these deleterious effects.