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What teenagers see on television affects their sexual behavior. That was the conclusion four years ago in an article in the journal Pediatrics. The study concluded that teens who watch television shows with heavy sexual content were actually twice as likely to engage in sexual intercourse than teens who did not. The study confirmed what most parents already know. What our children see on television affects their worldview and ultimately affects their behavior.
This new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, takes this correlation one step further. The researchers found that teenagers who watch lots of television featuring flirting, necking, and sexual scenes were about twice as likely to get pregnant as those who saw the least.
Now this latest study shouldn't surprise parents. It merely confirms what most of us knew all long before we had researchers were actually able to observe it and document it. Not only have previous studies shown a link between watching television shows and sexual activity, but studies have found a link between sexually explicit music videos and an increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases.
Other conclusions from the study were also disturbing. For example, they found that sexual content on television has doubled in the last few years (especially during the period of their research). They also recommended that parents mitigate the influence of sexual content by limiting exposure or by viewing it with children and discussing the depictions of sex.
When the lead researcher was asked about some of the programs with heavy sexual content, she mentioned programs like "Sex and the City" and "Friends." But these programs aren't on television anymore, except as reruns. She wouldn't identify other programs because she didn't "want to single out any individual programs." That sounded like a cop out.
This latest study confirms earlier studies and confirms what parents have known for decades. Watching sex on television affects subsequent sexual behavior. I'm Kerby Anderson, and that's my point of view.
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