Viewing of Sexually Explicit Internet Material Among Jewish and Arab Adolescents: The Role of Parental Monitoring and Family Communication About Sexuality

The relation between familial characteristics and adolescent viewing of sexually explicit internet materials (SEIM) has been extensively studied. However, the impact of ethnocultural context on these relations remains largely unexplored. The present study aimed to address this gap by examining the moderating role of ethnocultural context in the associations between parental monitoring, family communication about sexuality, and viewing of SEIM. A total of 855 secular Jewish and Arab adolescents in Israel (58.5% females, Mage = 14.98 years, SD = 1.63) completed self-report questionnaires assessing these characteristics. Results showed that Jewish adolescents reported higher levels of family communication regarding sexuality and viewing of SEIM than Arab adolescents. While in both ethnocultural groups parental monitoring was negatively associated with viewing of SEIM, family communication regarding sexuality was negatively associated only with viewing of SEIM among Jews. In conclusion, our findings suggested that parental monitoring emerged as a potential protective factor against the viewing of SEIM. This factor may be more universal than culturally based. However, the effectiveness of family communication regarding sexuality in reducing the viewing of SEIM might be limited in Arab families. These findings emphasized the importance of taking the cultural context into account.