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Sex Education on TikTok: A Content Analysis of Themes
Abstract
Leading medical and public health societies endorse comprehensive sex education, but only 20 states and Washington, D.C., currently require information about contraception when sex education is taught, and even fewer require the inclusion of topics such as gender diversity or consent. At the same time, social media use, especially the video-sharing app TikTok, is increasing among teens. TikTok, therefore, offers a novel opportunity to make up for shortcomings in sex education and convey sexual health information to adolescents. To describe the availability and content of sexual education on TikTok, we conducted a content analysis of themes for 100 sex education–focused videos. We found that female anatomy was the most frequently addressed topic. Sexual pleasure was the second most common theme, within which discussions of the female orgasm and arousal constituted the most common subtheme. Other common themes include contraception and sexual health. These sought-after topics may be incongruent with those presented in standard school- or home-based sex education or interactions with health care providers, and this disconnect suggests opportunities for health care providers and educators to initiate conversations or offer resources on these themes as part of routine interaction. We conclude with recommendations for future research to consider the factual accuracy of sex education on TikTok and determine how exposure to this content affects adolescents’ understanding of the risks and benefits of intercourse, sexual practices, age- and gender-based sexual norms, and other health behaviors.
... In response to this worrying trend, content created by U.S. OBGYN influencers on TikTok (i.e., board-certified doctors who specialize in obstetrics and gynecology and have a large following on the social media platform TikTok) has garnered considerable attention largely because women's health concerns such as menstruation, birth control, and abortion care are stigmatized and thus less likely to be adequately taught or openly discussed (Escandon, 2021;Fowler et al., 2022;Ghaith et al., 2023;Kindelan, 2020;Kwon et al., 2023;Southerton & Clark, 2022;Stein et al., 2022;Willebrand, 2020). Based on this, it is not surprising that some OBGYN influencers on TikTok have millions of followers (see Table 1). ...
... Every video that each U.S. OBGYN mega influencer posted between June 24, 2022, and September 24, 2022, was collected. Video links were entered into an Excel spreadsheet over the course of a few weeks in October 2022, following the guidelines established in previous literature (see Fowler et al., 2022). This time frame was chosen to include videos on the date Roe v. Wade was overturned to 3 months after the court's ruling when some states (e.g., Indiana) began to pass legislation for abortion bans. ...
... A codebook was developed to measure constructs that assisted with answering the study's research questions, which included the types of health concerns discussed by U.S. board-certified OBGYN influencers, their responses to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the specific stigma reduction strategies they used to discuss women's sexual and reproductive health, and the communicative forms they employed to address misinformation on TikTok. A 15-item coding sheet was designed based upon previous content analytic research examining sexual health videos on TikTok (see Fowler et al., 2022;Stein et al., 2022) as well as stigma reduction strategies commonly used in public health (see Heijnders & Van Der Meij, 2006). ...
... The most frequent topics emerged in the literature [9] do not directly reflect most desired or needed topics by male users, nor the most shared sexual health contents in social media. A recent study [20] that looked at videos on TikTok on sex education showed that the most viewed contents were about pleasure, contraception, anatomy, and principles of sex education. These indicate areas of interest in the audience that certainly need to be explored in future studies. ...
... Another key issue is how to consider the accuracy of health messages on social media and determine how exposure to this content affects adolescents' and young adults' understanding of sexuality [20]. The reliability of the content disseminated on social networks, the trustworthiness of the information, and the indiscriminate sharing of contents that can perpetrate the phenomenon of fake news represents an additional concern [1,4,5,24,25]. ...
... Consequently, not all communicated messages provide evidencebased information [1]. Although social media guidelines and terms of service seem to recognize the important educational role of these platforms, most of them do not regulate or supervise the reliability of content shared, nor provide disclaimers on incorrect/ unverified information, in addition to moderating pornographic and inappropriate content [1,4,20]. In this sense, effective and correct use of social media for public health purposes is left to the content creator. ...
Social media are popular and play a key role in influencing, informing, and stimulating users in their everyday lives. People (especially adolescents and young adults) increasingly use social media to get and share sexual health-related information. Studies have shown encouraging results on using social media for sexual health communication improving attitudes and behaviors, although the current quality of studies makes them little reliable. In fact, literature shows how research on social media and sexual health communication has many limitations and unexplored areas, especially for male users. What can we do as sexual health professionals to improve in this field? The answer is simple: engage in better communication and do more research, starting from the users' needs. There is the urgency to embrace these new ways of information among professionals in order to improve access to better care. In this perspective article, authors will present and discuss some of the evidence on the use of social media in male sexual health and offer some suggestions on how to communicate better in these platforms.
... In fact, some content that tends to be excluded in formal sex education (e.g., sexual pleasure) can be easily accessed on TikTok. In a content analytic study of sex education on TikTok [25], researchers found that sexual pleasure was the second most common theme (found in 23 of the 100 reviewed posts/videos), within which discussions of the female orgasm and arousal constituted the most common subtheme [25]. ...
... In fact, some content that tends to be excluded in formal sex education (e.g., sexual pleasure) can be easily accessed on TikTok. In a content analytic study of sex education on TikTok [25], researchers found that sexual pleasure was the second most common theme (found in 23 of the 100 reviewed posts/videos), within which discussions of the female orgasm and arousal constituted the most common subtheme [25]. ...
As only half of adolescents in the United States receive school-based sex education that meets the minimum standard articulated in national goals (Lindberg and Kantor LM, Adolesc Health 70:290–297, 2022), young people often turn to other sources of sexual health information, including online sources. Although adolescents view teachers, parents, friends, and medical professionals as more trusted sources of sexual health information (Jones and Biddlecom, J Health Commun 16:112–123, 2011), they also seek out online sexual health information (OSHI) specifically for more sensitive, potentially embarrassing, or stigmatizing topics. With a rise in the prevalence of Internet use and advances in innovative, accessible digital technologies, especially over the last decade, adolescents have greater access to OSHI at their fingertips than ever before. This chapter describes the tools (i.e., Internet use and device usage/ownership) adolescents use for OSHI, the latest trends related to OSHI-seeking, including data on sources of such information (e.g., websites, apps, social media) and topics sought, as well as benefits and risks of OSHI, such as exposure to misinformation, bias, and inaccuracies. We end by describing directions for future OSHI research and offering recommendations for clinicians/providers, educators, and policy makers.
... Our study has several implications related to TikTok's utility in disseminating reliable contraception educational content. Given the platform's popularity [4] and users' high level of contraception video engagement [6,23], TikTok has potential to strongly influence contraception decision making, particularly among younger users. Our cohort contained about 56% of videos created by HCPs, but these videos were quite popular, making up close to 80% of all video views. ...
... In an age of long wait times for healthcare appointments and short appointment visit times due to overloaded clinic templates, medical professionals should consider public education through social media as part of their educational mission. Other studies of TikTok have demonstrated strong engagement with videos created by medical professionals for dermatologic conditions [4] and sex education [23]. Direct to consumer education and communication are common in modern healthcare with the rise of electronic patient chart messaging and direct to consumer medical advertising. ...
Background
Contraception knowledge and attitudes are largely formed from conversations within one’s social network. More recently, this network has expanded to include social media. As the fastest growing social media platform, we aimed to assess popular contraception videos on TikTok for content understandability, actionability and accuracy.
Methods
This is a secondary analysis of the most viewed, contraception-specific TikTok videos that were previously coded as containing educational messaging in a content-analysis study. We assessed videos for understandability (ability to explain a key message) and actionability (identify what they can do to act on that message) using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Audiovisual Materials (PEMAT-A/V) instrument and for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose (CRAAP) using a modified instrument within the health information education literature.
Results
The 174 videos with educational content scored as understandable but not actionable in PEMAT-A/V assessment, with videos created by healthcare providers (HCPs) performing better than those by non-HCPs in six of eleven domains of understandability. Videos overall scored well in relevance and purpose within the CRAAP assessment. Videos created by HCP’s (n = 99) scored higher than those by non-HCPs (n = 75) in relevance (score = 3.9 versus 3.3), authority (score = 4.8 versus 1.7), accuracy (score = 6.0 versus 3.5), and purpose (score = 7.1 versus 5.7) [all p < 0.001]. Regarding video engagement, the median number of views among the videos in the cohort was 604,450. Of all video views, 79.2% were of HCP-created videos and 20.8% were of non-HCP videos.
Discussion
Much of the contraceptive educational messaging on TikTok is understandable, relevant, and accurate. HCP-created videos overall scored better as compared to other creators, though even HCP-created videos score fail to provide actionable recommendations. The videos created by HCP also had greater metrics of engagement. Given this, we encourage HCPs to use social media to better inform its users.
... Smartphone apps are also a popular way to provide educational content to young people or to connect them with services or supports (Albury, 2019). When it comes to sexual health promotion messaging, however, social media is a major medium through which young people are reached (Döring, 2021;Fowler et al., 2022). This can take the form of paid advertising to deliver health messages or health promotion agencies creating a 'presence' on social media-attracting followers, following other's content and creating a presence through commenting on posts, and producing their own content. ...
... Content related to sexual health is produced by a wide range of people and much could be described as 'info-tainment' (Albury and Hendry, 2023). For example, social media forums have an increasing number of 'influencers' who post content related to sexual health, such as feminist posts on TikTok about sexual pleasure or doctors who create short, often funny but informative, videos about health issues (Van Eldik et al., 2019;Fowler et al., 2022;Stein et al., 2022;Albury and Hendry, 2023). There are also a large number of podcasts and video channels relating to sexual health, such as YouTube channels produced by sex therapists that discuss a range of sex and relationship issues and 'agony aunt' style advice podcasts (Döring, 2021;Porter et al., 2021;Albury and Hendry, 2023). ...
Introduction
Health literacy is defined as the capacity, resources and insight to seek information, ask critical questions and be an advocate for one’s health. Sexual literacy is framed in similar terms, relating to the capacity to navigate emotionally and physically safe sexual encounters and to hold a critical and assertive stance on relationship dynamics, gender and consent. In this paper, we present findings from a qualitative study that explored how young people’s use of the internet develops sexual literacy.
Methods
In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 young people (aged 18–25). Interviews explored the ways in which young people participate in online spaces to learn about sex, relationships, bodies and other aspects of sexual health. Data were analysed using qualitative, inductive thematic coding techniques.
Results
Young people described learning about sexual health online as a process of exploring ideas, topics or experiences (going down ‘rabbit holes’). It was rarely the case that young people searched for specific information. Young people described engaging with multiple sources of content and multiple people online to learn about relationships or sex. This was often personal. Young people wanted to understand their own experiences and hear stories from people with similar experiences. Engaging with multiple sources, stories and people enabled critical reflection and peer-based learning.
Discussion
Building sexual health literacy is not simply about providing young people with sexual health information. Rather, it is about supporting young people to develop critical insight and capacity to reflect deeply on experiences and issues that affect their sexual relationships. The online environment supports sexual literacy as it enables critical inquiry, access to multiple perspectives, peer connection and personal reflection.
... Our study has several implications related to TikTok's utility in disseminating reliable contraception educational content. Given the platform's popularity [3] and users' high level of contraception video engagement [5,11], TikTok has potential to strongly in uence contraception decision-making, particularly among younger users. Our cohort contained about 56% of videos created by HCPs, but these videos were quite popular, making up close to 80% of all video views. ...
... In an age of long wait times for healthcare appointments and short appointment visit times due to overloaded clinic templates, medical professionals should consider public education through social media as part of their educational mission. Other studies of TikTok have demonstrated strong engagement with videos created by medical professionals for dermatologic conditions [3] and sex education [11]. Direct to consumer education and communication are common in modern healthcare with the rise of electronic patient chart messaging and direct to consumer medical advertising. ...
Background
Contraception knowledge and attitudes are largely formed from conversations within one’s social network. More recently, this network has expanded to include social media. As the most used social media platform, we aimed to assess popular contraception videos on TikTok for content understandability and accuracy.
Methods
This is a secondary analysis of the most viewed, contraception-specific TikTok videos that were previously coded as containing educational messaging in a content-analysis study. We assessed videos for understandability and actionability using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Audiovisual Materials (PEMAT-A/V) instrument and for currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose (CRAAP) using modified instrument within the health information education literature.
Results
The 174 videos with educational content scored as understandable but not actionable in PEMAT-A/V assessment, with videos created by healthcare providers (HCPs) scoring higher than those by non-HCPs in six of eleven domains of understandability. Videos overall scored well in relevance and purpose within the CRAAP assessment. Videos created by HCP’s (n = 99) scored higher than those by non-HCPs (n = 75) in relevance (p < 0.001), authority (p < 0.001), accuracy (p < 0.001), and purpose (p < 0.001). Regarding video engagement, of all video views, 79.2% were of HCP-created videos and 20.8% were of non-HCP videos.
Discussion
Much of the contraceptive educational messaging on TikTok is understandable, relevant, and accurate, though these metrics differ between videos created by HCPs as compared to other creators. The videos created by HCP also had greater metrics of engagement. Given this, we encourage HCPs to use social media to better inform its users.
... The cluster also includes studies that propose a research agenda for functional tics and functional movement disorder, as well as their implications for public health (Hull & Parnes, 2021). One article in the cluster focuses on sex-related online training, specifically on the content of sex education on TikTok, which highlights the potential of social media platforms like TikTok to provide accessible and engaging educational resources (Fowler et al., 2022). In general, the articles in the last cluster provide a comprehensive exploration of functional tics, their manifestation in TikTok, and their implications for various aspects of health and well-being. ...
... Initially, the coword analysis confirms the finding of the co-citation analysis, which emphasizes the intersection of social media, COVID-19, and public health. Body image (Bissonette Mink & Szymanski, 2022;Maes & Vandenbosch, 2022;Pryde & Prichard, 2022), digital health (Basch, Hillyer, & Jacques, 2022;Hopfer et al., 2022;Lupton, 2021), health communication and education (Fowler et al., 2022;Fraticelli et al., 2021;Zhang et al., 2021), memes (Han & Kuipers, 2021;Vizcaíno-Verdú & Abidin, 2022;Zeng & Abidin, 2021), and tobacco (Marynak et al., 2022;Morales et al., 2022;Wu et al., 2022) also emerged as notable research areas based on co-citation and co-word analyses. ...
The TikTok platform has become widely popular among younger generations and has influenced various industries and aspects of life. This systematic literature review, using bibliometric methods, aims to examine the evolution of TikTok research from its initial development to its current status. A total of 402 journal articles from 2019 to 2022 were systematically selected from the Web of Science Core Collection. Descriptive statistical analysis identified the most contributing academic institutions, nations, journals, scholars, and influential studies. Using CiteSpace, three visualization types were implemented: cluster views, timezone views, and timeline views. The study results indicate that several TikTok research clusters exist, which summarize important topics such as the platform’s overall impact on society, politics, culture, as well as human-centric issues such as social attachment, functional tics, and their implications for public health. According to the co-word analysis, TikTok research revolves around body consciousness, social behavior, consumer behavior, and news media. The comprehensive mapping of TikTok research provides valuable insights into the current state of knowledge and identifies numerous relevant technical and social areas for future investigation. As the first bibliometric review of TikTok research, this study offers an important foundation for future scholarly inquiry in various areas.
... The sample was analyzed in March 2021. Similarly, in another content analysis, Fowler et al. (2021) selected the first 50 TikTok videos using a particular hashtag for their sample. They noted the influence of the TikTok algorithm, as the algorithm determines which videos are shown and in which order. ...
... They noted the influence of the TikTok algorithm, as the algorithm determines which videos are shown and in which order. Moreover, we determined the sample size based on other studies that engaged qualitative methods to analyze videos on various social media platforms, some of which utilized a sample size of fewer than 50 (Fowler et al., 2021;Johnson et al., 2019Johnson et al., , 2021Wallis, 2011). Next, we deductively determined codes in a concept-driven way (Schreier, 2014) based on the extant literature surrounding OCD, stigma, and popular understanding of the diagnosis. ...
To better understand how women portray obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) on social media, we conducted a critical content analysis of TikTok videos. We examined a sample of 50 TikTok videos tagged with “#OCD” that were created by women, yielding two themes and multiple subthemes: 1) minimizes OCD symptoms and 1a) uses OCD as a synonym for cleanliness and organization; 2) accurately depicts OCD symptoms, 2a) corrects misunderstanding, and 2b) shares obsessive fears. Results revealed that TikToks
perpetuating stigma about OCD were prevalent, though women also posted TikToks presenting OCD in more accurate and comprehensive ways. Implications for mental health counselors are explained.
... This education has various goals such as promoting a healthy life, preventing early pregnancy, and preventing acts of sexual violence (Paton, Bullivan, and Soto, 2020). Sexual education can be developed through various media, such as through Tiktok (Fowler, Schoen, Morain, 2021), or through classroom lectures as developed in this research. ...
... Therefore, it is also not possible to provide statistical data on their thematic scope. However, based on observations and ongoing discussions in the field, five claims about how social media sex education topics differ from traditional, risk-and biology-focused formal sex education (Fine 1988;Fine & McClelland 2006) seem plausible but need to be empirically tested Fowler et al. 2022): ...
In recent decades, the Internet in general and social media in particular have become increasingly important spaces for sex education (short: sex ed.). Various characteristics of social media platforms make them attractive for the dissemination of sex education from the perspective of both sex information seekers and sex educators. Given the increasing amount of sex education on social media and the ongoing controversies about its opportunities and challenges, there is a growing interest among sex educators and sex researchers in answering the following five questions: Who provides sex education on social media? What topics are addressed by sex education on social media? What is the information quality of sex education on social media? Who uses sex education on social media and how? What are the effects of sex education on social media? This chapter will answer these questions based on the current state of research and illustrative examples.
... Combining CCA with IDIs was crucial for the research design. Stage 1 of the research involved analyzing the content using hashtags to identify and sample the most relevant videos (e.g., Fowler et al., 2022). Stage 2 (guided by stage 1), that is, structured online IDIs, expanded and added to content analysis. ...
The article uses the concept of online self-disclosure and examines whether TikTok videos reveal information similar to what is reported in existing research on social media within this field. In addition, the study aims to identify the creators’ motivations and the meanings they attribute to disclosing cancer and asks whether this disclosure challenges or supports the concept of a positive culture defined within the online self-disclosure framework. While similar research typically focuses on posts and is thus limited, this study combines conventional content analysis of 862 videos with in-depth interviews, offering a more nuanced understanding of the users’ lived experience. The findings highlight that TikTok is a platform for negative (e.g., fears, anxiety) and positive self-disclosure (e.g., joyful life events, self-acceptance). What is crucial, though, is that users feel exceedingly competent in educating others. The research debunks positive culture as an overly general category and undermines the traditional understanding of online self-disclosure. It reveals that seeking support is less important for patients than informing and warning others. By focusing on the educational meanings attributed to self-disclosure, this study enriches the body of research on cancer-related content shared on TikTok, including studies on low-quality cancer-related information.
... Adolescent behaviors and beliefs are unique from those of adults and change with time and setting. Sexual health behaviors are influenced by numerous institutional, personal, interpersonal, and material factors including social media (Fowler et al., 2022), policy (Rabbitte & Enriquez, 2019;Santelli et al., 2017), and physical contraceptive methods (Bachorik et al., 2015;Callahan et al., 2019). Adolescents are likely to have unprotected sex even when not desiring pregnancy due to a variety of factors including concerns about confidential health care, poor access to contraceptive methods (Biggs et al., 2012), relationship and intimacy considerations (Manlove et al., 2014;Upadhyay et al., 2016), and contraceptive preferences (Decker et al., 2021;Nathan et al., 2023). ...
Black and Hispanic adolescents in New York City experience high rates of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. A comprehensive understanding of the complexity of adolescent sexual health and family planning decisions and experiences can provide insights into the sustained disparities and inform practice, policy, and future research. The goal of this study was to explore and analyze this complexity, centering Black and Hispanic adolescent mothers as the experts on sexual and reproductive experiences from pre-pregnancy through parenting. As part of formative research for a human-centered design study, we interviewed 16 Black and Hispanic adolescent mothers living in New York City. Using situational analysis, we mapped relationships, discourse, and social structures to explore the various factors that inform adolescent sexual health decisions, in particular choices about contraception. Situational analysis found that, besides interpersonal factors, organizations and non-human elements like social media and physical birth control devices affected adolescent family planning in three social arenas: home, healthcare, and school. Within and across these arenas, adolescents lacked consistent sexual health education and contraceptive counseling and faced gendered expectations of their behaviors. Participants described parents and healthcare providers as most responsible for providing sexual health counseling yet described parents as uncomfortable or overreactive and healthcare workers as paternalistic and biased. A consideration of the many factors that inform sexual health decision-making and recognition of adolescents’ desire for parents and healthcare providers to be a source of education can address health disparities and promote adolescent sexual health and wellbeing.
... The use of devices owned by parents is still dominantly used for other things that are not looking for information about sexual education for early childhood. (Fowler et al., 2022) state that the use of social media, especially video sharing, continues to increase, but content about sexual education and sexual health has not become the user's top choice. Meanwhile, suppose it is mapped out in more detail. ...
The number of sexual violence against children in Indonesia continues to increase yearly, and most incidents of sexual violence occur in households and nearby places. They are perpetrated by people close to the child. So parents need to understand sex education for early childhood in order to prevent sexual violence experienced in early childhood. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between access to information obtained by parents on an understanding of early childhood sexual education. The method used in this research is descriptive with a quantitative approach. Data collection was carried out by observation, interviews, and questionnaires given to parents of early childhood at the Delima PAUD unit, Bengkulu City. The results showed that 57.78% of parents most often access information through social media, 33.33% through television, 4.44% through books, newspapers, and magazines, and 4.44% through radio. The data processing results using SPSS show a reasonably close relationship between access to information obtained by parents and understanding of early childhood sexual education. The more quality access to information obtained, the better understanding parents will have. The coefficient of determinant shows that access to information obtained by parents explains the understanding of early childhood sexual education by 19.9%, and other variables explain the remaining 80.1%.
... Therefore, it is also not possible to provide statistical data on their thematic scope. However, based on observations and ongoing discussions in the field, five claims about how social media sex education topics differ from traditional, risk-and biology-focused formal sex education (Fine 1988;Fine & McClelland 2006) seem plausible but need to be empirically tested Fowler et al. 2022): ...
In recent decades, the Internet in general and social media in particular have become increasingly important spaces for sex education (short: sex ed.). Various characteristics of social media platforms make them attractive for the dissemination of sex education from the perspective of both sex information seekers and sex educators. Given the increasing amount of sex education on social media and the ongoing controversies about its opportunities and challenges, there is a growing interest among sex educators and sex researchers in answering the following five questions: Who provides sex education on social media? What topics are addressed by sex education on social media? What is the information quality of sex education on social media? Who uses sex education on social media and how? What are the effects of sex education on social media? This chapter will answer these questions based on the current state of research and illustrative examples.
... Beyond formal education, positive practices related to sexual consent have also emerged in unconventional settings such as television programmes and social media platforms including TikTok (Calderón-Sandoval et al., 2023;Fowler et al., 2021;Pulido et al., 2024). Additionally, social justice movements such as #MeToo have significantly contributed to advancing the discourse on sexual consent, and ...
Introduction
Notions of effective sexual communication and consent have shifted towards an enthusiastic consent framework. This study explored how young cisgender heterosexual men and women apply these concepts in casual sexual encounters.
Methods
Six single-gender and mixed gender focus groups of 44 participants were conducted with young cisgender heterosexual men and women living in Australia in 2021. Participants were asked about their dating and sexual practices, as well as their understanding and navigation of sexual communication and sexual consent practices using vignette methodologies. Findings were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis techniques.
Results
The findings highlight tensions between how participants understand what constitutes good practices of sexual communication and consent, and how they expected characters in the vignettes, or themselves, to engage in similar scenarios. These involved (1) gendered power dynamics in sexual encounters; (2) the need for context in universal assumptions; and (3) differences between expectations and personal actions in similar scenarios.
Conclusions
The participants express a high degree of knowledge of what constitutes best practice for sexual communication and sexual consent. However, such knowledge is not necessarily engaged in their lived experiences of sex for a variety of reasons.
Policy Implications
While current educational and health promotion methods for topics such as sexual communication and consent are valuable, they may be limited in efficacy. Sexual encounters are often complex, and are influenced by culture, religion, and various emotions. Decision-making in such situations involves known and unknown variables. A deeper understanding of these processes is needed to develop more nuanced resources.
... Given the exploratory na-ture of this study, aligned with its aims and questions, qualitative content analysis is deemed appropriate. Several studies have utilized content analysis for exploring videos, indicating their validity and usefulness for this type of research (Fowler et al., 2021;Kousha et al., 2012;McCashin & Murphy, 2022;Waters & Jones, 2011). First, the videos were categorized into their main topics in relation to environmental issues. ...
In light of the increasing frequency of misleading information in social media regarding environmental issues, this study aimed to identify misleading information spread through TikTok videos and to discuss why such content is considered misleading, drawing on relevant literature. Hashtags with large numbers of views, such as #climatechange, #sustainability, #pollution, #biodiversity, #environmentalprotection, #environmentalissues, #energysource, and #environmentalproblems, were used for data collection through web scrapper called Apify (https://apify.com/). A total of 29 misleading videos were found. Content analysis was applied to identify and classify the topics and misleading claims. The topics of misleading videos, according to the most frequent mentions, were energy sources, followed by climate change, pollution, biodiversity, and environmental degradation. Among the misleading claims, videos related to pyramids as non-pollutant power plants and conspiracy related to pollution exhibited the highest frequency. The results show various misleading claims in videos related to environmental topics. Also, emphasized the importance of science education in addressing misleading information. In addition, the importance of an interdisciplinary approach for addressing environmental issues was reinforced. Keywords: TikTok videos, misleading information, environmental issues, content analysis, science education
... The Internet and social media were viewed by students as popular sources of sex and reproductive health information outside school, with variation seen between students of different genders in terms of where they found information outside school. The Internet and social media provide widely available sources of information but the quality of the information being presented has not been evaluated for accuracy, especially with regard to sex education (Fowler et al., 2022). In focus groups we carried out with young people, participants were unsure if online influencers were giving them correct information (Hamilton and Harper, 2023). ...
Objective
Most countries teach limited information about sex and reproductive health education, often concentrating on how not to get pregnant. In this study, we examine what 16- to 18-year-olds in England have learnt and their views about reproductive health education.
Design
This is a mixed-methods study. An anonymous, online survey was conducted on Qualtrics software using multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Schools were recruited via the Biotutors forum, and they distributed the survey to students aged 16–18 years.
Setting
Data collection took place across England.
Methods
A total of 931 students completed the survey, of whom 636 were girls, 250 were boys, 31 as other genders, and 14 did not disclose their gender. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, and associations were explored using Chi-square tests. Qualitative data were analysed thematically.
Results
Over half (65%) of the students rated the sex education they had received as adequate or below. Over half (74%) reported that they do not, or only sometimes, talk to their parents/guardians about these topics. Half (49%) did not know when a woman is most fertile. Students showed a better knowledge of female fertility than male fertility. There was no relationship between how much teaching respondents said they had received and their knowledge of reproductive health topics. From the free text question ‘How do you think we can improve sex and fertility education in schools?’, five themes were identified: inclusivity for all students; comprehensive with relevant topic variety; logistical improvements needed to teaching; the need for honest, transparent and non-judgemental teaching; and sex positivity.
Conclusion
Schools should teach a wider range of issues relevant to sexual and reproductive health. Data from this study have assisted the creation of a teachers’ education resource which is being developed in partnership with the International Reproductive Health Education Collaboration (IRHEC).
... Finally, we identified that young adulthood was an ideal time to be tackling this health inequality as this is a period of transition, developing identity including sexual identity, and becoming more sexually active. There has also been a noticeable societal shift in recent attitudes, with technology and social media playing a key part in sexual behaviour [16] and sexual health education [37,38]. ...
Background
Young people with mental ill-health experience higher rates of high-risk sexual behaviour, have poorer sexual health outcomes, and lower satisfaction with their sexual wellbeing compared to their peers. Ensuring good sexual health in this cohort is a public health concern, but best practice intervention in the area remains under-researched. This study aimed to co-design a novel intervention to address the sexual health needs of young people with mental ill-health to test its effectiveness in a future trial undertaken in youth mental health services in Melbourne, Australia.
Methods
We followed the 2022 Medical Research Council (MRC) guidelines for developing and evaluating complex interventions. This involved synthesising evidence from the ‘top down’ (published evidence) and ‘bottom up’ (stakeholder views). We combined systematic review findings with data elicited from qualitative interviews and focus groups with young people, carers, and clinicians and identified critical cultural issues to inform the development of our intervention.
Results
Existing evidence in the field of sexual health in youth mental health was limited but suggested the need to address sexual wellbeing as a concept broader than an absence of negative health outcomes. The Information-Motivation-Belief (IMB) model was chosen as the theoretical Framework on which to base the intervention. Interviews/focus groups were conducted with 29 stakeholders (18 clinicians, three carers, and eight young people). Synthesis of the evidence gathered resulted in the co-design of a novel intervention consisting of an initial consultation and four 60-90-minute sessions delivered individually by a young ‘sex-positive’ clinician with additional training in sexual health. Barriers and supports to intervention success were also identified.
Conclusions
Using the MRC Framework has guided the co-design of a potentially promising intervention that addresses the sexual health needs of young people with mental ill-health. The next step is to test the intervention in a one-arm feasibility trial.
... However, TikTok's rise to popularity has been meteoric, and research on it is still arguably "in its infancy" (Zulli & Zulli, 2022, p. 1875. Early studies have addressed various topics related directly or indirectly to education, such as sex education (Fowler et al., 2022) and COVID-19 public health messages (e.g., Li et al., 2021). Scholars have also highlighted disinformation and misinformation on TikTok that may confound efforts to educate (e.g., Basch et al., 2021). ...
Although TikTok is among the world’s most popular social media platforms, its use by educators has received limited attention. TikTok features particular opportunities and challenges that could impact educator use. This research explores educator (N = 415) TikTok use through an online survey. Participants tended to engage with
the platform more for personal than professional reasons, but nonetheless found content that influenced their professional knowledge and practice. Humor was prevalent in participant TikTok engagement. Social media literacy is becoming increasingly important for educators, as participants reported various challenges associated with TikTok, and many lacked awareness of key issues with the platform.
... A comprehensive sexual education is considered a human right and aims to provide accurate and realistic information and life skills in a non-judgmental way to help adolescents make informed choices [26]. In the absence of information, adolescents turn to other sources of information such as the sexual experiences of friends and self-education via the internet and books [27,28]. ...
(1) Background: Sexuality is influenced by the school, family, and social contexts. All of these play a crucial role in promoting adolescents’ sexual health and well-being. However, little is known about the factors that have an impact on sexuality in late adolescence. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the perspectives of late adolescents on the factors that influence their sexual lives. (2) Methods: A qualitative study with a descriptive design was carried out. Thirteen interviews were conducted. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed, and categorized into themes and subthemes. (3) Results: The results of our study offer support for the importance of sexual aspects in the lives of late adolescents who identify as heterosexual. (4) Conclusions: The most influential environments in late adolescent sexuality are the social, family, school, and peer contexts.
... Another adjacent topic of conversation within this research was that of the stigmatization of discussing feminine bodies. A research study done on the sex education topics that are most commonly searched for on TikTok echoed the issues that participants had with the formal sex education they received-the most common searches found within the study were female anatomy and female pleasure (specifically, orgasms) (Fowler et al., 2022). This shows that the participants' feelings that these topics were taboo were not isolated. ...
Members of Generation Z are bombarded daily with new innovations in technology within a rapidly globalizing world, leading to a constant shift in modes of connectivity and communication. The new wave of social media, especially TikTok and Instagram, arrives in parallel to increasing social awareness of previously taboo topics, like the focus of this research—pregnancy and childbirth. Women’s health issues, especially including the topics of menstruation, sex, pregnancy, and childbirth, were hardly spoken about publicly less than a decade ago. However, this is changing, and there is a growing number of women influencers using internet platforms to normalize conversations surrounding women’s health. Using an interview-based methodology, this research seeks to gather a better understanding of opinions on social media as an avenue for women’s health knowledge, and to answer questions about how the sharing of women’s health content on social media affects young women along with what this content reveals about the societal understanding of pregnancy and childbirth. This article primarily includes opinions and commentary from young female students at the University of Florida, in addition to some supplemental viewpoints from women’s healthcare providers. These diverse perspectives produce a more multifaceted understanding of how social media can be so impactful and therefore why it is able to shape perceptions of a condition such as pregnancy. .
... Consequently, numerous review studies have analyzed the effects of sexual health interventions in schools from a risk-perspective (26)(27)(28), showing that a risk approach is neither an optimal nor an effective prevention approach (29,30). Moreover, the risk approach does not cover the positive sexual health content that adolescents themselves wish to learn more about (17,25,31), which is perhaps why another review study found evidence of positive intervention effects when adolescents participate in the planning and implementation of programs (8). The health promotion approach shows promising evidence of effect (2,5,32), nonetheless, the health promotion perspective regarding adolescent sexual health is still understudied (5,14,23). ...
Introduction
Sexual ill-health is an urgent public health issue with subsequent social and economic costs. There is, therefore, a need for more effective sexual health promotion interventions in an early stage of life. Previous research has focused on preventive sexual health interventions applying a risk perspective, and the limited and scattered evidence concerning school-based sexual health promotion interventions employing a health-resource perspective has not been compiled and synthesized. Hence, this study aimed to systematically review the current evidence on the effects of sexual health promotion interventions conducted in schools in Europe.
Method
A systematic review based on the JBI and PRISMA standards was performed, encompassing searches in seven databases to identify sexual health promotion interventions conducted in European schools between 2012 and 2022. Data coding was performed according to a predetermined protocol and included information on study characteristics, intervention content, methods, and outcomes relevant to the current review. A narrative synthesis of the included studies was performed, highlighting the collective results.
Result
Seventeen records were included in the review, reporting on 16 individual studies conducted in 7 European countries. Of the 16 included studies, 13 had a quantitative research design, and three had a qualitative design. All three studies with a qualitative research design described positive effects experienced by the participants. Six of thirteen quantitative studies showed statistically significant positive effects on at least one of the outcomes of interest. The outcomes of interest were grouped into five areas, and most studies focused on the area of attitudes toward sexual health.
Conclusion
The findings indicate promising evidence of effect for interventions with a health promotion approach, highlighting the importance of strengthening sexual health resources related to respect, communication skills, attitudes, and other positive psycho-social aspects of sexual health. Most sexual health promotion intervention studies have focused on sexual health resource outcomes connected to attitudes and skills, whereas a comprehensive focus on the multi-dimensional sexual health literacy concept is less common and can be recommended to be included in future intervention research.
... Further, there has been some interest from researchers who have considered TikTok as a tool for health promotion, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and as healthcare professionals are increasingly turning to the platform to share messages about face masks and vaccines (e.g. Fowler et al., 2021, Boatman et al., 2021, Southerton, 2021. Other research has highlighted the rise of #EduTok and the content created by educators on the platform, as well as the capacity of TikToks to be 'edutainment' (Zeng et al., 2020, Hartung et al. 2022. ...
El artículo analiza TikTok desde una perspectiva holística, integrando visiones legales, filosóficas, sociológicas y psicológicas, con un enfoque en los menores. Desde el punto de vista legal, examina las medidas regulatorias y las decisiones judiciales orientadas a proteger a los menores de contenido perjudicial. Desde una perspectiva sociológica, explora el papel de los “prosumidores” en una “cultura convergente”, en la que los usuarios crean y consumen contenido, moldeando las dinámicas sociales, así como la influencia de la interactividad y la personalización. Desde el ángulo psicológico, destaca la formación de hábitos mentales en los jóvenes y la importancia de la agencia del usuario en el contexto de los derechos digitales de los niños. Finalmente, aboga por estrategias como los pactos educativos digitales para promover el uso responsable de TikTok.
Liebeskummer, Frust statt Lust, Kondom kaputt – derartige Probleme der sexuellen und reproduktiven Gesundheit sind gleichermaßen banal wie bedeutsam. Früher war Dr. Sommer hier ein wichtiger Ansprechpartner. Heute wenden sich Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene massenhaft an Dr. YouTube und an Dr. TikTok. Wie ist die sexuelle Gesundheitskommunikation mittels Online-Videoplattformen einzuschätzen? Antworten gibt eine aktuelle Analyse zu Verhütungsinformationen auf TikTok.
Background: TikTok has rapidly become one of the most extensively downloaded and used social media platforms worldwide. Our focus on emergency medicine (EM)-related content on TikTok is to identify what specific video characteristics result in higher degrees of audience engagement, defined in this study as a total of video likes, comments, and shares. Methods: Five second-year medical students using newly created TikTok accounts independently downloaded the first 100 videos to appear using the hashtag #emergencymedicine. The videos were reviewed for 52 variables. We performed a multiple linear regression analysis to examine the relationship between the variables and video engagement. Results: Of the examined videos, 45.8% (222/484) were produced by physicians (MD or DO). Approximately half, 50.0% (242/484), had an educational component, while 55.4% (268/484) of videos were judged to have an entertainment component. Preliminary findings indicate that among TikTok videos featuring #emergencymedicine, a statistically significant positive correlation exists between video engagement and the presence of a healthcare identifier, (ie, individuals wearing white coats or scrubs). No significant correlation was observed between video engagement and video creators’ self-identification as a healthcare professional, use of entertainment, or use of education. A notable negative correlation was identified between video engagement and the inclusion of music. Conclusion: We identified qualities associated with negative and positive correlation with video engagement. For the 100 videos, only healthcare attire, such as wearing a white coat or scrubs, showed a significant positive correlation with engagement, while those with background music showed a negative correlation. Our study offers insight into how EM professionals can effectively use characteristics associated with higher engagement rates to relay information to a wider audience on TikTok.
Sociologists have long been puzzled by whether attitudes inform behaviors or vice versa. Accurately assessing both possibilities requires panel data collected at relatively short intervals. In this study, I leverage intensive panel data from the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life Study to assess the case of young women’s premarital sexual attitudes and behavior. Through a series of descriptive analyses and cross-lagged panel models, I show that opposition to premarital sex in young adulthood is only sometimes associated with subsequent sexual behavior and that premarital sex is negatively associated with later opposition to premarital sex. Young women are especially likely to reduce their opposition following first sex relative to sex reported at any time. Thus, initial behavioral experiences may result in outsized shocks to attitudes, following an active updating model. That subsequent sex is associated with less attitudinal change suggests that young women initially update their attitudes before settling into them. This study nuances long-standing debates on the malleability of attitudes within a person over time and with respect to behavior and has implications for how people approach behavior according to their attitudes across a wide spectrum of social phenomena.
As fact-checking videos increasingly circulate on video-sharing platforms, more research is needed to understand the prevalent features of such videos and how they are associated with audience engagement. Drawing from the literature on fact-checking, communication, marketing, and computer science, we identified eight audiovisual features as well as seven persuasive strategies that are most relevant to fact-checking videos. Using a hybrid video analysis framework combining both automated and manual content analysis, we examined 4,309 fact-checking videos on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. We found that fact-checking videos on Douyin tended to have higher brightness, less cool color dominance, and faster tempo than non-fact-checking videos from the same accounts and Douyin Trending videos, and frequently used persuasive strategies like clickbait and humor. Through feature clustering, we established three types of fact-checking videos on Douyin—long storytelling cartoons, short stimulating videos, and short authoritative videos. We found that several audiovisual features and persuasive strategies were associated with audience engagement, such as likes, comments, and reshares. This study sheds light on the common practices of fact-checking videos in Chinese cyberspace, extends the current image-as-data paradigm to fact-checking videos, and helps fact-checkers make evidence-based decisions on content creation.
TikTok has more than 1.5 billion users globally. Health and wellness content on the application increased by more than 600% in 2021. This systematic review seeks to summarize which fields within medicine have embraced researching health communication on the TikTok platform and the most common measures reported within this literature. Research questions include what categories of health topics on TikTok are investigated in the literature, trends in topics by year, and types of outcomes reported. Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, and Ovid MEDLINE databases were searched in March 2024. Eligible studies met four criteria: (1) investigated human health topics on TikTok; (2) conducted in the United States; (3) published in English; and (4) published in a peer-reviewed journal. Of the 101 included studies, 50.5% (N = 51) discussed non-surgical specialties, 9.9% (N = 10) discussed topics within surgery, and 11.9% (N = 12) discussed COVID-19. The number of papers referencing non-surgical topics spiked in 2023, and no increase was seen in the number of COVID-19 papers over time. Most papers reported a number of interactions, and papers about mental health were least likely to report accuracy. Our findings highlight several health topics with a wide breadth of research dedicated to them, such as dermatology and COVID-19, and highlight areas for future research, such as the intersection of cancer and TikTok. Findings may be influential in the fields of medicine and healthcare research by informing health policy and targeted prevention efforts. This review reveals the need for future policies that focus on the role and expectations of the healthcare worker in health communication on social media. Implications for clinical practice include the need for providers to consider an individual’s perception of health and illness, given the wide variety of information available on social media applications such as TikTok. This review was pre-registered on PROSPERO (CRD42024529182).
Este artículo explora cómo medios de comunicación españoles abordan la ética de las relaciones sexuales e influyen en la construcción y percepción de la sexualidad de la audiencia más joven -denominada generación Z o zoomers- a través de sus redes sociales. Esta observación coincide con el proceso legislativo de la ‘Ley del solo sí es sí’, un cambio normativo de relevancia social y mediática que pone el consentimiento en el punto de mira de las relaciones tras el incremento de agresiones sexuales en grupo de hombres contra una mujer. A través de una metodología cualitativa, basada en análisis del contenido y el discurso, se exploran 13585 contenidos publicados por 13 medios de comunicación en Instagram y TikTok. Los resultados evidencian que la cobertura mediática se ciñe a polémicas políticas y temporales, sin pretensión de profundizar y contextualizar en los diferentes aspectos que envuelven las relaciones sexuales y el consentimiento. Se concluye que, a pesar del potencial de las nuevas narrativas audiovisuales de ambas redes sociales para la cobertura informativa e interpretativa, en la actualidad los medios no asumen una función educomunicativa en torno a la sexualidad. Sin embargo, los contenidos de carácter divulgativo e inclusivos por lo que respecta al género, basados en una argumentación razonada, son los que despiertan mayor interés entre las audiencias más jóvenes, manifestado en un mayor número de “me gusta” y visualizaciones.
Zusammenfassung
Seit Winter 2021 betreibt pro familia Berlin einen eigenen TikTok-Kanal (https://www.tiktok.com/@profamilia_berlin). Der Kanal weist mehr als 60 Videos zu sexualpädagogischen Themen auf. Er hat rund 35 000 Follower*innen sowie knapp 400 000 Likes gesammelt. Videos über Penislügen und zum Kondomgebrauch sind mit mehreren Millionen Views viral gegangen. Der vorliegende Praxisbeitrag beschreibt, wie der Kanal entstanden ist. Er schildert zudem, welche Erfahrungen mit der Content-Produktion und den Publikumsreaktionen gesammelt werden. Empfehlungen für sexualpädagogische Fachkräfte, die selbst auf TikTok aktiv werden möchten, werden abgeleitet.
Der Artikel widmet sich Umgangsweisen mit Scham im Kontext von Sexualaufklärung auf der Social-Media-Plattform TikTok. Hierfür wird ein Video eines weitreichenstarken Sexualaufklärungskanals zum Thema weibliche Ejakulation/Squirting objektiv-hermeneutisch rekonstruiert. Als Strukturmoment wird die Ambiguität der Selbstdarstellung der Sexualaufklärerin herausgearbeitet, die unauffällig und auffällig, persönlich und unpersönlich, infantil und erwachsen, spielerisch und ernst, professionell und unprofessionell sowie wissenschaftlich und unwissenschaftlich erscheint. Im Umgang mit Sexualscham lässt sich ein spezifisches Verhältnis von Thematisierung und Dethematisierung rekonstruieren. Die Entschämung der weiblichen Ejakulation bzw. des Squirtens wird unter anderem durch Referenz auf statistische Normalität, das Bereitstellen einer wissenschaftlichen Sprache und eine vereinfachte Abgrenzung vom Urin bewirkt. Dabei bleibt die Ejakulation/das Squirten als eher passives Geschehen gerahmt, was die intendierte Aufwertung als Potenz unterläuft. Zudem zeigte sich hinter der manifesten Entlastung das Motiv eines latenten Zwangs zur Schamfreiheit.
TikTok as social media in general has a controversial reputation and its academic potential is not much explored. Nowadays TikTok is extremely popular among teenagers for entertainment purposes and its popularity is constantly growing. The platform’s short-length videos are delivering small and easily digestible pieces of information that are potentially suitable for attracting and capturing student attention. They deliver information in a concise manner, which could be useful for various school subjects. The aim of our study is to find out whether teenagers use the platform for education and how they evaluate the platform’s academic potential. We asked 34 teenagers (M=15.59, SD=1.76, 59% female), who attend various grammar schools in Germany, about their use of TikTok and their perception of the platform’s educational potential. The results show that those teenagers who use TikTok also consume school-relevant content from the platform, such as learning methods, physical explanations, mathematical tricks, astronomy and biology facts. Those who consider the platform helpful for learning highlight two main reasons: the speed and ease of access to information and the brief and easy-to-understand content. However, the teenagers also point out two main problems regarding the use of TikTok for learning: its high level of distraction and the absence of information about sources. Though the majority consider the platform as a purely entertaining medium, 44% of teenagers think that it can be used both for entertainment and education. 29% of teenagers consider TikTok to have a potential to be a supplementary educational medium. Teenagers suggested the following improvements for TikTok to make it more effective as an educational tool: mark credible sources and reliable information, create separate space for learning for instance through filters or special settings, create more reliable educational content, make the platform safer and less distractive. The captivating nature of TikTok is a double-edged sword: it can spark interest in complicated topics, but it also tends to draw attention to irrelevant content. The results and limitations of the study are presented in the article.
Sexuality education (SE) can be acquired through different sources. In a cross-sectional online study with Spanish and Portuguese participants ( N = 595), we examined differences between formal traditional sources (i.e., mandatory SE received in schools), formal modern sources (e.g., SE received in courses), informal traditional sources (e.g., talks with friends and family), and informal modern sources (e.g., pornography and online content) and their contribution to sexual health and well-being outcomes. Results showed that sexual and reproductive health were among the most addressed topics across all sources. Nearly all participants received SE from informal sources, whereas more than two-thirds received SE from formal traditional sources. Results of a linear regression model showed that participants who perceived more influence from formal traditional sources reported using condoms more often, were more focused on disease prevention, and enacted more sexual health communication, but were also less sex-positive. Participants who perceived more influence from both types of informal sources attributed more importance to SE topics but reported having condomless sex more frequently and were more focused on pleasure promotion. Still, participants who perceived more influence from informal traditional sources also endorsed more internal/external consent, were more sexually satisfied, were more sex-positive, and enacted more sexual health practices. Lastly, participants who perceived more influence from informal modern sources were also more likely to have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection. Only a small proportion of participants received SE from formal modern sources and had to be excluded from this analysis. Some differences between Spain and Portugal are discussed. Taken together, our findings highlight the need to consider different sources for a more comprehensive and inclusive SE, in articulation with sociocultural and political contexts.
Since 2011, an increasing incidence of sexually transmitted infections and risky sexual practices has been reported among young adults in Canada. However, research on sexual risk behaviours of international students in North America is limited, despite an increasing number of students from abroad attending higher education institutions on this continent. This article shares research findings comparing the sexual practices of international and domestic students in five postsecondary institutions in three Canadian provinces (Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec). Two hundred forty-two international students and 1220 domestic students took part in the bilingual online and paper-based survey. Female international students were less likely to be sexually active than international male, domestic male, and domestic female students. International students were significantly less likely to partake in many risky sexual behaviours, such as inconsistent condom use and unplanned sex after consuming alcohol or drugs. However, male international students were more likely to report having multiple sexual partners than male domestic students. These findings are relevant to those who counsel and advise postsecondary students on Canadian campuses and for healthcare practitioners to better understand postsecondary students’ sexual practices. Strategies to enhance sexual health and knowledge include targeted promotion of safe sexual practices and sexual education in postsecondary institutions.
The Internet has emerged as a significant source of knowledge about sexuality, particularly because of its anonymity and easy accessibility. The present study examined the sexual content found on TikTok, a social media platform popular with adolescents. The main research question focused on the types of sexual content and messages prevalent on TikTok. The study also explored the identity of those who share information about sexuality on TikTok, the most popular content consumed, and notable omissions. To address these inquiries, we conducted a content analysis of the top 100 videos tagged with the hashtag #sexuality on TikTok. The findings revealed eight recurring themes in the videos. Content creators on TikTok (TikTokers) promoted a positive perspective on sex, emphasizing pleasure and attraction as an alternative to traditional sexuality education, which tends to focus on the risks associated with teenage sexuality. The relationships portrayed in the videos rely on stereotypical gender norms, and the limited duration of the videos allows providing only superficial information. Topics such as watching porn or using contraceptives, which are considered important aspects of comprehensive sexuality education, were scarce or absent on the TikTok videos sampled. This study can help teachers and counsellors responsible for sexuality education programs better understand the content to which adolescents are exposed, enabling them to adapt their conversations and interactions with students accordingly.
The generalized social concern with sexual harassment and nonconsensual sex makes it imperative to incorporate notions of consent in any analysis of human sexual interactions. Such interactions follow an ordered sequence of events, starting with the perception of a sexual incentive, followed by an approach to it, genital interaction, and eventually orgasm. Consent from the partner is needed at every stage. At some points in this chain of events, the individuals involved make cognitive evaluations of the context and predictions of the likelihood for obtaining consent for proceeding to the next phase. Processes such as communication of consent or lack thereof, sexual decision making, and interpretation of cues emitted by the partner are decisive. Increased sexual motivation may influence these processes. However, available data make it possible to ascertain that enhanced motivation has no, or at most minor, effects, thereby invalidating the old assumption that heightened sexual motivation leads to impaired control.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 75 is January 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
TikTok’ta Bir Alt kültür Örneği Olarak Cadılık Kültürü ve
Büyü Uygulamaları: WitchTok Örneği
Access to sexual health education, such as education on sexual consent, is limited in the US. Artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, provides a potential opportunity to increase access to sexual consent information and education. However, what ChatGPT knows about sexual consent and if this aligns with the current evidence-based literature on sexual consent is unclear. The goal of this research commentary was to explore what ChatGPT knows about sexual consent with a focus on: 1) the definition of consent, 2) how consent could be communicated, and 3) the impact that substances have on consent. We also examined the reliability of ChatGPT's responses by having three different researchers ask ChatGPT the same set of questions. Across our questions, ChatGPT provided similar and comprehensive responses that discussed key features of consent - that consent is freely given or reversible. ChatGPT provided examples of different verbal and nonverbal cues people can use to communicate and interpret consent and discussed the ways that substances can impact consent communication. Overall, ChatGPT could be a potential resource for educators and young people who seek information about sexual consent; however, we should proceed with caution. ChatGPT is not a replacement for an educator but rather a way to increase access to education.
Study objective:
There are many videos on contraception on YouTube and TikTok, and women around the world use video platforms extensively to seek health information from videos of uncertain reliability and quality. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the scientific reliability and quality of the most popular social media videos about contraceptive subdermal implants.
Methods:
TikTok and YouTube videos were assessed separately by two gynaecologists. The video quality was evaluated according to the DISCERN score, Modified Discern Score, and Global Quality Score.
Results:
The study included the 100 most popular videos, 44 of which were uploaded by healthcare professionals. The median DISCERN score for videos shared by healthcare professionals was 50 (range: 15-75), while it was 22 (range: 15-56) for videos shared by independent users (p 0.001). The median modified DISCERN score was 4 (min-max: 0-5) and the median GQS score was 4 (min-max: 1-5) for the videos uploaded by healthcare professionals. The modified DISCERN and GQS scores of TikTok videos are lower than those of YouTube videos (p 0.001 and p 0.001, respectively).
Conclusion:
Social media videos about contraceptive subdermal implants are popular and have been viewed tens of thousands of times, but the overall medical validity which we evaluated according to the scoring systems was poor. Despite the large number of videos, the content's quality and reliability are quite limited. There is a need to prioritize the education provided to patients by gynecologists, as well as to create high-quality content for YouTube and other similar platforms.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to present a public health problem, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) offers a promising preventative intervention; however, its uptake remains low, so investigating determinants of use is essential. This article applies queer critical discourse analysis to a corpus of 121 TikToks sampled via the TikTok algorithm, coded and refined into three overarching content categories: 'what makes a PrEP user?', 'what is PrEP as a drug?', and 'sexual health and HIV'. Examples from within these categories reveal four underlying discursive themes: (1) stigmatisation of HIV as a 'gay disease' with a poor prognosis; (2) stigmatisation of gay men as unsafe, high-risk and untrustworthy; (3) stigmatisation of PrEP as increasing 'unsafe' sexual practices; (4) poor healthcare and education gay men and other beneficiaries of PrEP. These themes are influenced by a broad spectrum of homophobic and heteronormative discourses available with specific examples reflecting parts of this spectrum from predominantly perpetuating to occasionally challenging. The findings report complementary evidence obtained from other media platforms yet offer a unique take while suggesting useful avenues for future public health messaging relating to PrEP which may be used to inform the next steps against HIV.
Today’s generation of adolescents and young adults have been labeled “digital natives” given that they have had access to digital technology since birth. In this review, we address two critical areas impacting adolescents’ reproductive health and social media. First, we address the current state of the science across several ‘hot topic’ areas of social media use, including body image and privacy concerns. Second, we shift to consider social media as a potential health education tool in the area of reproductive health. Throughout this review, we attend to gender differences for these topics, including differences between males and females as well as differences between cis and trans adolescents. Our goal is that this review provides a timely update for providers caring for today’s digital natives.
Background:
The most recent estimates of the number of prevalent and incident sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the United States (US) were for 2008. We provide updated estimates for 2018 using new methods.
Methods:
We estimated the total number of prevalent and incident infections in the US for eight STIs: chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, syphilis, genital herpes, human papillomavirus (HPV), sexually transmitted hepatitis B, and sexually transmitted HIV. Updated per capita prevalence and incidence estimates for each STI were multiplied by the 2018 full resident population estimates to calculate the number of prevalent and incident infections. STI-specific estimates were combined to generate estimates of the total number of prevalent and incident STIs overall, and by gender and age group. Primary estimates are represented by medians and uncertainty intervals are represented by the 25th (Q1) and 75th (Q3) percentiles of the empirical frequency distributions of prevalence and incidence for each STI.
Results:
In 2018, there were an estimated 67.6 (Q1=66.6, Q3=68.7) million prevalent and 26.2 (Q1=24.0, Q3=28.7) million incident STIs in the US. Chlamydia, trichomoniasis, genital herpes, and HPV comprised 97.6% of all prevalent and 93.1% of all incident STIs. Persons aged 15-24 years comprised 18.6% (12.6 million) of all prevalent infections; however, they comprised 45.5% (11.9 million) of all incident infections.
Conclusions:
The burden of STIs in the US is high. Almost half of incident STIs occurred in persons aged 15-24 years in 2018. Focusing on this population should be considered essential for national STI prevention efforts.
Social media intertwines itself with the adolescent experience in our country. Friendships, family ties, romantic relationships, academic pursuits, and even dining all have an inseparable electronic component for this generation. Social media is defined as electronic communication, especially applications and Web sites, through which users create and share information, ideas, and personal messages in an online community.¹ The most prominent platforms for this activity are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. Research regarding the merge of social media and clinical practice has grown in the last decade, and we’ve now learned that there are clear correlations between patients’ mental health and social media usage. Aberrant and/or excessive social media usage may contribute to the development of mental health disturbance in at-risk teenagers, such as feelings of isolation, depressive symptoms, and anxiety.2,3 In addition, many mentally ill teenagers express their daily thoughts and stressors via social networking platforms. Thus, gathering information on teenagers’ social media activities may provide a more complete picture of their psychosocial risk profile.
This Clinical Report was reaffirmed January 2022
The purpose of this clinical report is to provide pediatricians updated research on evidence-based sexual and reproductive health education conducted since the original clinical report on the subject was published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2001. Sexuality education is defined as teaching about human sexuality, including intimate relationships, human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexually transmitted infections, sexual activity, sexual orientation, gender identity, abstinence, contraception, and reproductive rights and responsibilities. Developmentally appropriate and evidence-based education about human sexuality and sexual reproduction over time provided by pediatricians, schools, other professionals, and parents is important to help children and adolescents make informed, positive, and safe choices about healthy relationships, responsible sexual activity, and their reproductive health. Sexuality education has been shown to help to prevent and reduce the risks of adolescent pregnancy, HIV, and sexually transmitted infections for children and adolescents with and without chronic health conditions and disabilities in the United States.
A thematic and critical literature review was conducted to determine what is known about adolescents’ experiences with online sex education. Four major themes could be discerned from the literature, revealing that: (a) adolescents report engaging with sex information online; (b) adolescents are interested in a number of topics, including sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy; (c) the quality of adolescent-targeted sex information online can be lacking, but adolescents can evaluate these sources; and (d) Internet-based interventions can increase adolescents’ sexual health knowledge. Inconsistencies in the literature are discussed and suggestions are made for future research.
How 1 gynecologist turned her TikTok account into a ‘virtual sex
- A Debianchi
DeBianchi, A., (2020, September 3). How 1 gynecologist turned her
TikTok account into a 'virtual sex-ed' classroom. Today. https://
www.today.com/tmrw/dr-jennifer-lincoln-uses-tiktok-her-virtualsex-ed-classroom-t189873
State laws and policies: Sex and HIV education
- Guttmacher Institute
Guttmacher Institute. (2021). State laws and policies: Sex and HIV
education. https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/sexand-hiv-education
Welcome to the corner of TikTok where sex ed is actually cool
- K Mooney
Mooney, K. (2020, September 29). Welcome to the corner of
TikTok where sex ed is actually cool. Bustle. https://www.bustle
.com/wellness/obgyn-educators-tiktok-sex-ed-accessible
This is how the TikTok algorithm works
- M Mcglew
McGlew, M. (2020, June 18). This is how the TikTok algorithm
works. Later. https://later.com/blog/tiktok-algorithm/