Music Preference, Parental Monitoring and Gender as Factors in Adolescents’ Sexual Permissiveness

Music Preference, Parental Monitoring and Gender as Factors in Adolescents’ Sexual Permissiveness. 

ABSTRACT  

This study was a survey aimed at ascertaining whether music preference, parental monitoring and gender are factors in adolescent sexual permissiveness. A sample of 405 adolescents were drawn from three secondary schools within Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area, Enugu State. Three instruments were used in the data collection. They include: Sexual Permissiveness Scale (SPS), Music Preference Scale (MPS) and Parental Monitoring Measure (PMM).

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data collected. Three research hypotheses were postulated and tested. The findings showed that music preference was a significant factor in adolescent’s sexual permissiveness F (1, 388) = 13.81, P <.001. Parental monitoring and gender were not significant factors in adolescent sexual permissiveness. However, the interaction between music preference and parental monitoring yielded a significant factor F(1, 388) = 8.08, P <.01.

The interaction between Parental monitoring and gender yielded a significant interaction F(1, 388) = 11.25, P < .001. The implications of the findings were discussed focusing on the dangers of exposure of adolescents to sexually provocative music. Recommendations were made for provision of relevant education, as well as sexual health services to parents, adolescents, and other relevant bodies. 

INTRODUCTION  

Technological advancement and urbanization has turned the world into a global community. This trend brought about social changes in the society and to our social lives. As a result of this, there is a tremendous increase in the level of neglect and breakdown of moral values, especially among adolescents. Today, sexual permissiveness has become a characteristic of the social life of adolescents such that it has raised a lot of concern about adolescents’ behaviours in connection with sexual matters.

Petigny (1965) defined sexual permissiveness as the freedom to take part in sexual activities which were previously considered unacceptable or freedom to view violent and sexually provocative materials including movies, music, art and literature. Hornby (2010) defined sexual permissiveness as allowing or showing a freedom of sexual behaviours and matters that many people do not approved of. On that note, one could simply define sexual permissiveness to be toleration of a wide variety of sexual behaviours and attitudes.

It could also be defined as the granting or inclination to grant permission; tolerance or lenience towards sex or ideas of sex or to have sex. High prevalence rate of sexual activities among adolescents is likely to lead to an increase in teenage pregnancy, school dropout, academic under achievement, abortions, unplanned motherhood and maternal mortality, as well as infection with sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. Onyeonoru and Adeboyejo (2007) posit that sexual experiences are more common among adolescents and that the age of first sexual experience is declining. 

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StudentsandScholarship Team.