Skip to content

Projects &

Publications

Romantic and sexual development

​Projects

Project STARS (Studies on Trajectories of Adolescent Relationships and Sexuality) is a large-scale, multidisciplinary research project on adolescent romantic and sexual development. The goal of Project STARS was to investigate developmental trajectories of Dutch adolescents’ romantic and sexual involvement, as well as the influence of individual characteristics, the proximal (nearby) social context, and the media on this development. Participating adolescents were followed up for 18 months, and completed four sets of questionnaires. In addition, subsamples of adolescents were invited to participate in several in-depth studies, such as online focus groups, experimental studies, and Facebook studies.

Publications

Doornwaard, S. M. (2015). It’s kind of an exciting story: The role of the Internet in adolescent sexual development. (Doctoral dissertation, Utrecht University).

Doornwaard, S. M., Bickham, D. S., Rich, M., Ter Bogt, T. F. M., & Van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M. (2015). Adolescents’ use of sexually explicit Internet material and their sexual attitudes and behavior: Parallel development and directional effects. Developmental Psychology, 51, 1476-1488.

Doornwaard, S. M., Bickham, D. S., Rich, M., Vanwesenbeeck, I., Van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M., & Ter Bogt, T. F. M. (2014). Sex-related online behaviors and adolescents’ body and sexual self-perceptions. Pediatrics, 134, 1103-1110.

Doornwaard, S. M., De Boer, F., Vanwesenbeeck, I., Van Nijnatten, C., Ter Bogt, T. F. M., & Van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M. (2017). Dutch adolescents’ motives, perceptions, and reflections toward sex-related Internet use: Results of a web-based focus group study. The Journal of Sex Research, 54, 1038- 1050.

Doornwaard, S. M., Moreno, M. A., Van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M., Vanwesenbeeck, I., & Ter Bogt, T. F. M. (2014). Young adolescents’ sexual and romantic reference displays on Facebook. Journal of Adolescent Health, 55, 535-541.

Doornwaard, S. M., Ter Bogt, T. F. M., Reitz, E., & Van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M. (2015). Sex-related online behaviors, perceived peer norms, and adolescents’ experience with sexual behavior: Testing an integrative model. PLOS ONE, 10, e0127787.

Doornwaard, S. M., Van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M., Baams, L., Vanwesenbeeck, I., & Ter Bogt, T. F. M. (2016). Lower psychological well-being and excessive sexual interest predict symptoms of compulsive use of sexually explicit Internet material among adolescent boys. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 45, 73-84.

Doornwaard, S. M., Van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M., Overbeek, G., & Ter Bogt, T. F. M. (2015). Differential developmental profiles of adolescents using sexually explicit internet material. The Journal of Sex Research, 52, 269-281.

Doornwaard, S. M., Van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M., Johnson, A., & Ter Bogt, T. F. M. (2014). Exposure to sexualized media content and selective attention for sexual cues: An experimental study. Computers in Human Behavior, 41, 357-364.

Doornwaard, S. M., Van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M., Vanwesenbeeck, I., & Ter Bogt, T. F. M. (2016). It’s kind of an exciting story: De rol van het Internet in de adolescente seksuele ontwikkeling. Tijdschrift voor Seksuologie. Themanummer: “Project STARS”, 40, 212-218.

Doornwaard, S. M., Van den Eijnden, R. J. J. M., Lugtig, P., Overbeek, G. & Ter Bogt, T. F.M. (2015). Het gebruik van seksueel expliciet internetmateriaal (SEIM) onder adolescenten: Ontwikkelingstrajecten en voorspellers. In M. H. W. Geeraets (Red.). Intieme relaties en seksualiteit. Houten, Nederland: Bohn Stafleu van Loghum (pp. 51-64) (ISBN: 978-90-368-0967-2).

Baams, L., Overbeek, G., Dubas, J.  S., Doornwaard, S. M., Rommes, E., & Van Aken, M. A. G. (2015).  Perceived realism moderates the relation between sexualized media consumption and permissive sexual attitudes in adolescence. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44, 743-754.

Reitz, E., Van de Bongardt, D., Baams, L., Doornwaard, S. M., Dalenberg, W., Dubas, J., … Deković, M. (2015). Project STARS (Studies on Trajectories of Adolescent Relationships and Sexuality): A longitudinal, multi-domain study on sexual development of Dutch adolescents. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 12, 613-626.