Correlation Between Teen Exposure to Sex in the Media and Sexual Activity
A real shocker, right? According to Web MD, “Teens who see and hear a lot about sex in the media may be more than twice as likely to have early sexual intercourse as those who are rarely exposed to sexual content.” “A new study shows that 12- to 14-year-olds exposed to the most sexual content in movies, music, magazines, and on television were 2.2 times more likely to have had sexual intercourse when re-interviewed two years later then their peers who had a lighter sexual media diet.”
“The results showed that exposure to sexual content at ages 12-14 increased the risk of early teen sex among white teenagers even after taking into account other factors known to reduce the likelihood of teen sex, such as parental disapproval of teen sex and getting good grades. In fact, each increase in grouping of sexual content media exposure increased the risk of teen sex by 30 percent.”
Researchers say the results show that while sexual images in the media may influence teen sex, clear communication about sex between parents and their children can also have a major impact on teen sex.
Source: CBS News
Researchers found that white teens with the highest level of sexual content exposure were 120 percent or 2.2 times more likely to have initiated sexual intercourse than those with the lowest levels of exposure to sexual content in the media.
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But if the parents disapprove of teen sex, how are the kids getting to watch all these media images of teen sex?
How are they not getting killed, grounded, strung up, or suffering severe soap-related parental penalties after viewing, anyway?
I mean, my parents believed in aversion therapy. Anything they had an aversion to, they let us know there’d be penalties we’d have an aversion to.
Comment by Maureen — April 3, 2006 @ 5:04 PM
Maureen,
I think that is a big part of the problem. Parents who don’t restrict what their 12 – 14 year old kids watch, are very likely the biggest part of the problem, many of which are likely to occur in single parent households. Kids living with only one parent is so prevelant now-a-days, and many of these kids have a significantly higher chance of having emotional problems, experimentation with drugs, pre-marital sex, anger issues, etc…., than those who have both parents in the house.
Comment by shelray — April 3, 2006 @ 7:32 PM