Let’s Talk About Sex: Sex Positivity and Message Framing Among Young Women

Comprehensive sexual education is a curriculum that incorporates many components of sexual health. The current study examined message framing of sexual health messages given to young women. This study looked at whether messages that focused on potential gains or losses would be more positively received among young women. Receptivity was measured by having participants evaluate the credibility of the source delivering the sexual health messages. Participants were also asked to answer questions regarding the level of communication with their mother regarding sexual health. Results showed that participants rated the source of gain-framed messages higher than the source of loss-framed messages. Participants who reported higher communication with their mothers reported the message source more positively when the message was loss-framed