Table 1.
Socio-demographic information, general media exposure, parenting and teenager characteristics.
| Variable | Description | Range | % or Mean (SD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | Gender | Male = 0, Female = 1 | 52% female |
| Age | Age in years | 14.7–16.9 years | 15.5 (0.3) |
| Father's education | Father continued with education past 16 years | 0 = stayed on post-16 years, 1 = left school at or before 16 yrs | 51% left school by 16 yrs |
| Mother's age | Mother's age at time of survey | 0 = 40 years or older, 1 = under 40 years | 21% under 40 years |
| Family type | Number of biological parents in household | 0 = lives with both parents, 1 = lives with lone parent or in a reconstituted family | 32% live with lone parent or in reconstituted family |
| School leaving plans | Number of years of secondary education intends to complete | 0 = plans to complete less than 5 years, 1 = plans to complete 5 years, 2 = plans to complete 6 years | 16% plan to complete 5 years, 68% plan to complete 6 years |
| Religiosity | Extent of religious belief | 1 “not at all religious” to 5 “very religious” | 46% some religious belief (score>1) |
| Year | Survey conducted in 2008 or 2009 | 2008 = 1, 2009 = 2 | 59% in 2009 |
| Area | Area of Scotland | East of Scotland = 1, West of Scotland = 2 | 60% West of Scotland |
| Exposure to U and PG blockbuster films | Proportion of U and PG films asked about that teenager has viewed | 0 to 1 | 0.44 (0.19) |
| TV/DVD viewing hours | Weekly hours estimated using two items about time spent watching TV/DVDs on an average school day and on an average weekend day | 3.5 to 67 | 18.35 (10.94) |
| Cinema visits | How often goes to cinema | 0 “less than once a week”, 1 “weekly”, 2 “more than once a week” | 40% weekly, 6% more than once a week |
| Parental monitoring. | Four items (Cronbach alpha = 0.62) about rules for going out in spare time (being back by a certain time, someone stays up until teenager gets home, having to phone or text parents if teenager changes plans, and whether parents really know where teenager is) | 1 “always” to 4 “never”. Reverse coded for analysis so high score = greater monitoring | 1.98 (0.61) |
| Pocket money | Single item asking how much money teenager has each week to spend as they like | 1 “nothing” to 7 “£30 or more” | 4.11 (1.65) |
| Parental supportiveness | Two items (Pearson r = 0.51) asking for agreement with "My parents/guardians…sense when I'm upset about something", "…encourage me to talk about my difficulties" | 1 “strongly agree” to 5 “strongly disagree” | 2.27 (0.87) |
| Parental psychological control | Two items (Pearson r = 0.59) asking for agreement with "My parents/guardians try to control everything I do", "…treat me like a baby" | 1 “strongly agree” to 5 “strongly disagree” | 3.54 (1.04) |
| Disagreements with parents | Single item asking about the frequency of serious disagreements or arguments about things (for instance drinking, your friends, homework, tidiness or what you wear) | 1 “every day” to 5 “never” | 3.23 (1.04) |
| Parental attitudes to teen sex | Four items (Cronbach alpha = 0.72) on whether each parent/guardian "thinks people should be in a loving relationship before having penetrative sex", "would disapprove of me having penetrative sex". For 2 parents, mean scores were used | 1 “strongly agree” to 5 “strongly disagree” | 2.55 (0.72) |
| Family time | Four items (Cronbach alpha = 0.72) about frequency of eating together, going for a walk or playing sport together, going places together or doing other things as a family group | 1 “every day” to 5 “never” | 3.24 (0.68) |
| Sensation-seeking | Four items, from the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale, BSSS-4 (Stephenson, Hoyle, Palmgreen, & Slater, 2003) (Cronbach alpha = 0.71) (“I would like to explore strange places”, “I like to do frightening things”, “I like new and exciting experiences, even if I have to break the rules”, “I prefer friends who are exciting and unpredictable”) | 1 “strongly agree” to 5 “strongly disagree” | 2.43 (0.71) |
| Self-esteem | Three items (Cronbach alpha = 0.72) "I like myself", "I am a failure" (reversed), "Most of the time I am satisfied with the way I look" | 1 “strongly agree” to 5 “strongly disagree” | 1.93 (0.51) |
| Malaise | Six items (Cronbach alpha = 0.74) taken from the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (Tait, French, & Hulse, 2003) about whether teenager has in the past 2 months 1) been able to concentrate, 2) felt capable about making decisions, 3) been able to enjoy normal activities, 4) been losing confidence, 5) thinking of self as a worthless person, 6) been feeling reasonably happy | Items 1–3 and 6: 1 “better than usual” to 4 “much less than usual”. Items 4 and 5: 1 “not at all” to 4 “much more than usual” | 1.92 (0.50) |
| Friends' risk behaviour | Four items (Cronbach alpha = 0.80) about the proportion of the teenager's friends who had left school, who smoked most days, who got drunk most weeks, or had experienced sex | 1 “none” to 5 “all” | 2.11 (0.81) |
| Own other risk behaviour | Four items (Cronbach alpha = 0.74) about frequency of skipping school, getting drunk, smoking, and using cannabis | Skipping school 1 “strongly agree" to 5 “strongly disagree” (reverse-coded). Substance use 1 “never” to 6 “more than once a week” | 2.00 (1.03) |
| Partner status | Teenager has a boyfriend or girlfriend | 0 = never, 1 = used to have one, but not now, 2 = have one now | 50% used to have a boyfriend/girlfriend, 31% have a current boyfriend/girlfriend |