Reactions to Sex on Television: An Exploratory Study

A sample of 660 adults watched one of 15 randomly selected half-houror hour programs which were representative of prime-time majornetwork offerings in the fall 1977 season and which had beenobjectively analyzed for the presence of physically intimateand sexual content. The adults were asked to rate the amountof sexual content in the program and the suitability of thatcontent for adult, teenage, and child audiences and to estimatehow often specific physically intimate behaviors were presentin the show. Each adult provided demographic data, completedan attitude survey on TV sex, and evaluated how suitably 13sexual topics have been portrayed on TV. Through correlationalanalyses, the study provides information about what kinds ofpeople are responding in which ways to specific kinds of physicallyintimate portrayals on television.