Playing a Videogame with a Sexualized Female Character Increases Adolescents' Rape Myth Acceptance and Tolerance Toward XXXX .

@entity1 @entity458
OBJECTIVE: Prior research has documented favorable effects of active and educational videogames among adolescents. However, research on potential negative effects of such games is limited. Scholars have called attention to games portraying sexualized female characters. The purpose of the current study was to experimentally investigate the effect of playing a videogame with a sexualized female character on adolescents' acceptance of rape myths and tolerance for @entity458 . MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-seven secondary school pupils, 12-15 years of age, participated in a 2 (gender: @entity1 versus @entity1 )*2 (game character: nonsexualized versus sexualized female) factorial design experiment. @entity1 played a game for 15 minutes and were randomly assigned to one of the two game characters. Afterward, they completed established scales to assess rape myth acceptance and tolerance for @entity458 . RESULTS: Analyses of variance showed greater acceptance of rape myths (P=0.039) and greater tolerance of @entity458 (P=0.046) in adolescents who played with the sexualized @entity1 compared with adolescents in the control condition. We did not find significant differences between @entity1 and @entity1 or any interaction effect between gender and game character. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that gameplaying with a sexualized @entity1 may increase adolescents' acceptance of rape myths and tolerance for @entity458 . These findings highlight attention to the use of sexualized female game characters in (educational and active) videogames that target adolescents.
