Teens exposed to porn likelier to share sexual images online

Washington: A new study has revealed that adolescents, who watch sexual reality television, are more encouraged to share sexual images of themselves on social media.

In the study, researchers from University of Amsterdam also examined the relationship between exposure to Internet pornography and teens’ social media content.

They found no relationship between exposure to pornographic online content and a tendency to distribute sexually suggestive images of themselves on social media for either adolescent girls or boys.

Researcher Brenda K. Wiederhold from Belgium said that mental health professionals should assess adolescents’ viewing patterns to help identify possible risk behavior.

Wiederhold said that this could then be used as an entry point to prevention measures by teaching adolescents to be more judicious consumers of electronic media.

The study is published in the Journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking. (ANI)