Adolescent Sexual Socialization and Teen Magazines: a Cross-national Study Between the United States and the Netherlands

The majority of scientific research on teen magazines has been conducted from a single-country perspective, even though the experience of sex and sexuality is known to vary by country. Moreover, no research to date has analyzed the sexual content of teen magazines and directly linked it to how young people think or feel about sex. In response to these shortcomings, this book analyzes the topics of sexual desire, sexual danger, virginity loss, pregnancy, and the hook-up culture in the most popular teen magazines of the United States and the Netherlands. Results are then linked to US and Dutch young people's magazine reading and fear of sex, and further investigated by religiosity. While this book primarily addresses researchers of adolescent sexual socialization, it also offers practical insights to parents, health educators, government officials, and magazine editors - ultimately revealing that adolescent sex as a 'forbidden fruit' is a relative term, contingent upon culture.