ArticleAmerican journal of preventive medicine2009
Exposure to sexual lyrics and sexual experience among urban adolescents.
Article in American journal of preventive medicine, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring obscenity in Nigerian Afro-pop music: A sociocultural analysis of Yoruba youth and social norms.PloS one · 2026Article
- Appearance Reveals Music Preferences.Personality & social psychology bulletin · 2022Article
- Article
- Depictions of insomniacs' behaviors and thoughts in music lyrics.Sleep disorders · 2013Article
- Alcohol brand appearances in US popular music.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2012Article
- Exposure to cannabis in popular music and cannabis use among adolescents.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2010Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundTwo thirds of all sexual references in music are degrading in nature, yet it remains uncertain whether these references promote earlier sexual activity. The purpose of this study was to determine if exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex in popular music is independently associated with sexual behavior in a cohort of urban adolescents.
methodsAll ninth-grade health students at three large urban high schools completed in-school surveys in 2006 and 2007. Participants' exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex was computed with overall music exposure and content analyses of their favorite artists' songs. Outcomes included sexual intercourse and progression along a noncoital sexual continuum. Multivariable regression was used to assess independent associations between exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex and outcomes.
resultsThe 711 participants were exposed to 14.7 hours each week of songs with lyrics describing degrading sex (SD=17.0). Almost one third of participants (n=216) had previously been sexually active. Compared to those with the least exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex, those with the most exposure were more than twice as likely to have had sexual intercourse (OR=2.07; 95% CI=1.26, 3.41), even after adjusting for all covariates. Similarly, among those who had not had sexual intercourse, those in the highest tertile of exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex were nearly twice as likely to have progressed along a noncoital sexual continuum (OR=1.88; 95% CI=1.23, 2.88) compared to those in the lowest tertile. Finally, the relationships between exposure to lyrics describing nondegrading sex and sexual outcomes were not significant.
conclusionsThis study supports an association between exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex in popular music and early sexual experience among adolescents.
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