Watching TV can make teens pregnant
p2pnet news view | TV:- There’s, “increasing evidence that youth exposure to sexual content on television shapes sexual attitudes and behavior in a manner that may influence reproductive health outcomes,” is the unequivocal bottom line of a study undertaken for the Rand Corporation and published in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Researchers carried out a national survey of teens aged 12–17 years of age, monitored to 15–20 years of age.
The idea was to try to see whether or not exposure to sexual content on TV, “predicted subsequent pregnancy for girls or responsibility for pregnancy for boys”.
The results, decided the team, were positive. Or negative, depending on your point of view.
They concluded »»»
Exposure to sexual content on television predicted teen pregnancy, with adjustment for all covariates.
Teens who were exposed to high levels of television sexual content (90th percentile) were twice as likely to experience a pregnancy in the subsequent 3 years, compared with those with lower levels of exposure (10th percentile).
Solution?
“Limiting adolescent exposure to the sexual content on television and balancing portrayals of sex in the media with information about possible negative consequences might reduce the risk of teen pregnancy,” say Anita Chandra, Steven C. Martino, Rebecca L. Collins,Marc N. Elliott, Sandra H. Berry, David E. Kanouse, and Angela Miu, adding:
“Parents may be able to mitigate the influence of this sexual content by viewing with their children and discussing these depictions of sex.”
American Academy of Pediatrics – Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings From a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, October 31, 2008
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November 3rd, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Another Monty Python reference:
“I object to all this sex on TV. I mean, I keep falling off.”
November 4th, 2008 at 1:47 am
“Parents may be able to mitigate the influence of this sexual content by viewing with their children and discussing these depictions of sex.”
You see news like this quite frequently. If it’s not TV, then it is video games. If not video games, then it’s movies. What I really want to know is the side of things they never seem to study, such as the validity of comments like the one I just quoted above. I for one would really like to know. Personally my parents never discussed sex with me. I’m willing to bet most parents are afraid to what with how uptight North American society has always been taught to be regarding the subject. Children and teenagers are influenced by everything they see and hear as they grow up. Absolutely everything. It is not enough for parents to simply tell their kids what is right and wrong. They are much smarter than anyone tends to give them credit for and a lot of parents tend to be too overprotective as well. You have to sit them down and explain why something is right or wrong, and even more important is that your actions must always reflect what it is you are trying to teach them regardless of the subject. One way or another they are going to start learning about sex at a young age and not just from TV. This has been true since long before the TV was invented. The sooner you teach your children, the better. I truly wish someone had taken me aside and done exactly that when I was young, that’s for sure. Lessons last a lifetime. So do scars.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
thats it, I’m throwing my TV in the garbage….
ah screw that I just cut the cable out.
November 5th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Ever think that promiscuous girls watch sexy TV shows BECAUSE they’re promiscuous?
…that watching those shows is an Effect and not a Cause?
Do you really want to take away that TV and make ‘em go outside and play with the boys?