EXPOSURE TO SEXUAL CONTENT ON TELEVISION AND ITS EFFECTS ON YOUTH SEXUAL ATTITUDES IN TECHNICAL TRAINING INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA

Youth in Kenya are active consumers of media and often report that media are among the top sexual educators. Television presents to the youth a world that is different from the one they live in, which the youth may perceive to be reality. This study sought to establish the sexual attitudes of the youth in relation to sexual content on television. The study was guided by two complimentary theoretical perspectives: Gerber’s Cultivation Theory and the Social Cognitive Theory by Bandura. The research adopted a pragmatic philosophical approach in which it is believed that there is no value in absolute objectivity or absolute subjectivity, and thus neither is sufficient for the understanding of reality. A descriptive survey design was adopted to generate data from the respondents of the study. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews and participant observation were used to generate additional data for the purpose of validating and supplementing survey information. A total of 420 questionnaires were administered to the respondents selected through stratified random sampling technique. The study established that the youth have permissive attitudes towards sex in that they do not find it wrong for unmarried men and women engaging in premarital sexual behaviour. They also do not find it wrong for married men and women engaging in extramarital sex. The study also established that youth who spent more time watching TV had permissive attitudes towards sex. The study therefore recommends that to prevent adverse effects of exposure to sexual content on television on the sexual attitudes of the youth, there is need for media literacy as a skill which needs to be improved among the youth to enable them interpret television content appropriately.