Jennifer Stevens Aubrey

Professor
Director of Graduate Studies
Jennifer Stevens Aubrey

Office: Communication 221

Research Areas
Media Content and Effects
Health Communication
Entertainment Education

Dr. Jennifer Stevens Aubrey (Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2004) teaches classes on media, mass communication theory, and child and adolescent development in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona. With an emphasis on gender and child/adolescent development, her research focuses on media effects on emotional, mental, and physical health in young people. Topically, her research tends to centers on issues related to sexuality and body image. Her research has been published in such top-tier journals as Health Communication, Media Psychology, and Journal of Communication. 

Jennifer Stevens Aubrey will be accepting graduate students for Fall 2025.  

Research Interests

  • Media Processing and Effects
  • Health Communication
  • Entertainment Education
  • Gender and Media
  • Child and Adolescent Development

Selected Publications

Aubrey, J. S., Zeng, J., Saha, K., Gahler, H., & Dajches, L. (2024). The body positive… or the body neutral?: A content analysis of body positivity and body neutrality hashtagged videos on TikTok. Body Image, 50, 101737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101737 

Belmonte, A., Hopper, K. M., & Aubrey, J. S. (2024). Instagram use and endorsement of a voluptuous body ideal: A serial mediation model. Sex Roles, 90, 294-304. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-024-01442-9 

Roberts, L., Dajches, L., & Aubrey, J. S. (2024). Total frat moves: Assessing enactments of masculinity on Greek life Instagram accounts. Communication Reports, 37, 139-152. https://doi.org/10.1080/08934215.2024.2311912 

Schooler, D., & Aubrey, J. S. (2024). Objectification and the candidate: Examining the effects of objectification paired with candidate coverage on candidate evaluations and gender bias. Western Journal of Communication, 88(2), 305-327. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2023.2176193 

Terán, L., Gahler, H., Aubrey, J. S., & Yan, K. (2024). #Grab, #Touch, #Drink: A content analysis of college party culture in Instagram fraternity pictures. Psychology of Popular Media, 13(3), 495–500. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000468 

Aubrey, J. S., Miller, B., Bond, B. J., & Roberts, L. (2023). The lessons will be televised: Examining television portrayals of sexual consequences by gender. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 100(1), 172-192. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990211073953 

Aubrey, J. S., Terán, L., Dajches, L., Gahler, H., & Yan, K. (2023). Is sexual consent sexy?: Investigating the effects of a televised depiction of verbal sexual consent on college students’ sexual consent attitudes and behavioral intentions. Health Communication, 38(12), 2527-2536. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2022.2087264 

Dajches, L., & Aubrey, J. S. (2023). Queer Folklore: Examining the influence of fandom on sexual identity development and gender fluidity acceptance among Taylor Swift fans. Psychology of Popular Media, 12(3), 255-267. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000408 

Gahler, H., Dajches, L., Terán, L., Yan, K., & Aubrey, J. S. (2023). Instagram influences: An examination of the tripartite influence model of body image among a racially diverse sample of young-adult women. Computers in Human Behavior, 145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107785 

Gahler, H., Zeng, J., Yan, K., Terán, L., Dajches, L., & Aubrey, J. S. (2023). Birds of a feather flocking together on Instagram: How racially similar followers and followings on Instagram are linked to young women’s body image. Body Image, 47, 101626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.101626 

Yan, K., Terán, L., Gahler, H., Salmon, J., Dajches, L., & Aubrey, J. S. (2023). The costs of sexualization: Examining viewers’ perceptions of sexualized profile owners in online dating. Psychology of Popular Media, 12(1), 105-116.  https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000391 

Jiao, J., Terán, L., & Aubrey, J. S. (2022). Buffering an objectifying culture: Interpersonal sexual objectification, self-objectification, and attachment anxiety. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 46(4), 438-453. https://doi.org/10.1177/03616843221115335 

Lapierre, M. A., Ashtapture, A., & Aubrey, J. S. (2022). Boys go, girls go along: Exploring gender and price differences regarding themes present on children’s graphic t-shirts. Young Consumers, 23(3), 432-448. https://doi.org/10.1108/YC-07-2021-1353 

Lapierre, M. A., & Aubrey, J. S. (2022). Resisting privilege: Effects of a white privilege message intervention and conservative media use on freedom threat and racial attitudes. Mass Communication and Society, 25(3), 407-433. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2021.1996610 

Terán, L., Roberts, L., Yan, K., & Aubrey, J. S. (2022). Are we past the heterosexual script? A content analysis of heterosexual scripts in tween, teen, and young adult television programs. Mass Communication and Society, 25(3), 361-382. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2021.1962912 

Yan, K., Salmon, J., & Aubrey, J. S. (2022). A sexy post a day brings the “likes” your way: A content analytic investigation of sexualization in fraternity Instagram posts. Sexuality and Culture, 26(2), 685-706. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-021-09915-9 

Dajches, L., Terán, L., Yan, K., & Aubrey, J. S. (2021). Not another teen show: Exploring the impact of sexual scripts in sexually oriented teenage television on adolescent girls’ romantic relationship and sexual expectations. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 65(4), 575-594. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2021.1981903 

Roberts, L., Aubrey, J. S., Terán, L., Dajches, L., & Ward, L. M. (2021). The super man: Examining associations between childhood superhero imaginative play and wishful identification and late adolescent men’s body image and gender beliefs. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 22(2), 391-400. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000335 

Terán, L., Jiao, J., & Aubrey, J. S. (2021). The relational burden of objectification: Exploring how past experiences of interpersonal sexual objectification are related to relationship competencies. Sex Roles, 84, 610-625. https://doi.org/10.1007/s1199-020-01188-0