Researchers at the RAND research organization said their three-year study was the first to link viewing of racy television programing with risky sexual behavior by teens.
"Our findings suggest that television may play a significant role in the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the United States," said Anita Chandra, a behavioral scientist who led the research at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.
"We're not saying we're establishing causation, but we are saying this is one factor that we were able to prospectively link to the teen pregnancy outcome," Chandra said in a phone interview.
The researchers recruited adolescents aged 12 to 17 and surveyed them three times between 2001 and 2004, asking about television viewing habits, sexual behavior and pregnancy.
In findings that covered 718 teenagers, there were 91 pregnancies. The top 10th of adolescents who watched the most sexy programing were at double the risk of becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy compared to the 10th who watched the fewest such programs, according to the study published in the journal Pediatrics.
The study focused on 23 free and cable television programs popular among teenagers including situation comedies, dramas, reality programs and animated shows. Comedies had the most sexual content and reality programs the least.
"The television content we see very rarely highlights the negative aspects of sex or the risks and responsibilities," Chandra said. "So if teens are getting any information about sex they're rarely getting information about pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases."
TEEN PREGNANCY ON DECLINE
Teen pregnancy rates in the United States have declined sharply since 1991 but remain high compared to other industrialized nations. Nearly 1 million girls aged 15 to 19 years old become pregnant yearly, or about 20 percent of sexually active females in that age group. Most of the pregnancies were unplanned, the report said.
Young mothers are more likely to quit school, require public assistance and live in poverty, it said.
"Television is just one part of a teenager's media diet that helps to influence their behavior. We should also look at the roles that magazines, the Internet and music play in teens' reproductive health," Chandra said, acknowledging still other factors can influence teen sex habits.
Living in a two-parent family reduced the chances of a teen getting pregnant or causing a pregnancy. Black teenagers, and those with discipline problems, had higher risks.
The report suggested broadcasters provide more realistic portrayals of the consequences of sex and that parents limit their children's access to sexually explicit programing.
A second study in the journal added to existing evidence that youths who play violent video games -- a worldwide trend with American children averaging 13 hours of video gaming a week -- led to increased physically aggressive behavior.
Researchers from the United States and Japan evaluated more than 1,200 Japanese youths and 364 Americans between 9 and 18 years old and found a "significant risk factor for later physically aggressive behavior ... across very different cultures."
Aggressiveness in children is also associated with violence later on, according to the study by researchers from Iowa State University in Ames, the National Institute on Media and the Family in Minneapolis and Ochanomizu University and Keio University in Tokyo.
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- rimoeng
- added this
- added November 03, 2008
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It's all the way you interpret the data. They could just as easily say teens who are more sexually active tend to watch more sexy TV because it appeals to them. It all comes back to the question of whether TV is reflective or reflexive of reality.
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Have they found that teenagers who watch a lot of science fiction and cartoons are less likely to have sex?
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- joshuaheller
- 8 months ago
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i dont think its causation but it is correlation.
those shows have shitty values, what can you say?
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Whatever!
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NO! I'm so shocked that there's a connection between kids having sex and shows featuring it
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Every time I see another one of these studies published, I sigh. I did not run this study so I can't be sure, but these types of correlation research are far more value oriented than science oriented in my opinion.
You can find a link between eating ice cream and aggressive behavior. That doesn't mean that one causes the other. I think the idea that TV and video games should be blamed for teen pregnancy and aggression is just ridiculous. Humans have dealt with teen pregnancy and aggression throughout many cultures since the dawn of time- including before TV and video games existed.
If anything, I would blame the lack of education about and access to contraception as well as the misconception that everyone should be happy all of the time for teen pregnancies and outbursts if we must look for something outside of the people doing it. But hey, no one's holding a gun to anyone's head.
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- animalia_libero
- 8 months ago
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this is as lame as "Grand Theft Auto made me do it!", if your kids are sheep to begin with, you should have raised them to form their own opinions.
not follow the crowd "BAAHH!, BAAHH!"
mothers of america believe their children were born as angels and were corrupted by their environments, searching for something to blame, you find marilyn manson, celebrity deathmatch, and playboy.
the people that made these things you're blaming were once kids too, what fucked them up?
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- jonny2times
- 8 months ago
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All types of teens get pregnant. From the member of the honors society to the athlete to the loner.
And really...what shows are there to watch that appeal to this demographic that aren't "sexy"
Hmm...I wonder what my mom was watching when she got pregnant at 17? Damn Brady Bunch. Mike and Carol were always in bed together.
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- cantucwearebrothers
- 8 months ago
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Just looking at one small factor in, what's overall is, a very large picture seems a bit narrow-sighted. How is it really possible to separate TV and not take into account the internet, music, social trends and even basic biology when coming up with theories such as this one?
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Makes sense to me. If all the kids on the poular shows are "doing it" then so will the kids who watch it. Twenty years ago this was not a problem as television was actually worth watching.
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- ClusterAble
- 8 months ago
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That's an old picture. They are due with my child in 5 weeks.
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"The top 10th of adolescents who watched the most sexy programing were at double the risk of becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy compared to the 10th who watched the fewest such programs"
NEWS FLASH!
Watching sexy programing causes pregnancy!
Talk about immaculate conception.
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- ProfessorFunk
- 8 months ago
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People don't pay attention to how powerful TV is.
It makes and breaks people. It can make people (reality TV, great commercials, great news shows on a political person) or break someone (a single lie can get around the world before the truth puts its pants on). And every single one of us have our part to play in that. Some might be smart enough to see through the BS, but most do not.
and that's what the article is about...the most that can't see through it and follow what they think is cool. You can blame all kinds of things, but TV is a major problem and to ignore that is to be just as ignorant as those who the study followed.
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I wasn't a violent person until I played Call of Duty 4. There is something about the intro's. Flying in a Helicopter with Middle Eastern Music playing and seeing your comrads on the ground below traveling in there tanks getting ready to do some killing. You sit there with your heart beaten rapidly and hairs standing on your neck, and your thinking to yourselve "Bring It On Bitches"
What a game!
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I must say I became some what fasicnated with Ladies and I started watching German Nude Game Show Tutti Frutti on RTL when I was 8 Years old. Ah the good old days of German Television.
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Western society is very impressionable. Everything from music to fashion to what we watch on TV has an influence so this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
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- ScratchyPants
- 8 months ago
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No one is fooled by this "finding".
If you're parents let you watch shows that feature sex as its main content, then you're parents are probably leaving you at home for the weekend to hang out with your boyfriend.
It's also hard to raise kids when you've got to work so hard (and so much) to give them a good life. On top of all that, they play >TV shows< that feature sex and violence in prime time.
This is our culture. We made it. I don't believe it makes us.
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- guitar1100
- 8 months ago
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I agree tv is an influence, and it is up to the parents ultimatley to make sure their kids are not watching smut....period. Using the girls from the hills as an example, a fourteen year old has no business watching. First of all the women on that show (using term loosley) are of an age that is acceptable to be having sex. The target audience for that show is largley made up of 14-18 year olds.
There are so many good reasons to keep this kind of crap out of your house. One major reason is that none of it is based in reality, if a girl from the hills gets knocked up she will be having a baby shower at the Beverly hills hotel.....not at Aunt Gerts trailer. If you are a stupid parent and you let your kids watch crap it is your negligence. You can enjoy being a parent all over again. Talk with your kids, be honest with your kids. They are going to have sex, they are going to lie to you. If you give them every outlet to make smart choices, they will. If you want to turn a blind eye and let the tv, and our gross media raise them, it will. If you don't teach them to be decent, trust me no one will. -
that picture alone almost made me become pregnant...
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Umm this is a LONG over due look at TV's influence on behavior. Maybe they should look at the VIOLENCE content of TV as well?
I don't think it influences ADULTS as much however...
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well , I just want to remind everybody about and old man call (Edward Bernay) the father of public relation. He was the nephew of Sigmund Freud , this man came to America and he was hired by the corporations to created techniques on how to brainwash the american people and he did. Today everything you see on tv is with the purpose of manipulating your life the way the corporations want it.
I wonder, why people dont ask themselves , who benefits from all this crap that we see on tv.
America please! be original , do not follow the step of other peoples life,create your own story and turn off the freaking TV is garbage for your brain.
Remember the old saying ; if you watch crap you will talk crap and you will think crap.Cest la vie , Mon ami.
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- Tayllerand
- 8 months ago
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I knew that O.C. show was no good.
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- Mikeysfake1
- 8 months ago
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At the end it depends on the individual. I remember seeing a bunch high sexual, violent content movies/shows and I did not become a teen mom. So really, if the kid is messed up before this type of influence then it would be most likely they will be more sexually active or agressive.
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Television and video games are probably influential on some teenagers, but this is where PARENTING comes in, like several people said. It's not up to writers or television producers or the government to stop your kids from watching inappropriate things.
Meanwhile, I'm watching Dexter (on demand) right NOW, and have no intention of killing someone later.
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- DeliaTheArtist
- 8 months ago
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I completely disagree. Sexy shows such as the hills don't mention anything about sex. Sure one might go on to assume their actions or feel that they're implied but the show never talks about sex.
Second of all, education is out there and whether or not someone chose to be sexually active they could still choose to act wisely and go on birth control or use other methods to prevent pregnancy.
Sexy shows have been on TV for decades. I would believe this causation a little more if shows had suddenly been popping up more recently but theyve been their all along. Before the Hills started airing three years ago we'd seen nearly 20 years of the Real World and other shows like Dawson's Creek and 90210. If you honestly think that sexy shows are on the rise then you have been oblivious the last 30 years.
