Communication of sex-related messages and the third-person effect amongst college students in Singapore.

Abstract

This study examined the prevalence of the third-person perceptual gap amongst college students in Singapore, with regards to sex-related messages in mass media and interpersonal communication. The behavioral link, which is the likelihood of engaging in risky sexual behavior, was tested as well. Individual traits such as risk-taking tendency, self norms and peer norms were also considered as psychographic control variables for both the perceptual gap and the behavioral component. Results showed that (a) the perceptual component of the third-person effect received strong support; (b) frequency of exposure to interpersonal communication was negatively correlated with the perceptual gap, while frequency of exposure to mass media did not correlate with the perceptual gap, and (c) the perceptual gap did not account for the behavioral link once psychographic variables were controlled for. Implications of the findings are discussed.