New Study Urges Parents To Restrict What Their Teens Watch
You're reading New Study Urges Parents To Restrict What Their Teens Watch, posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 8:17 pm in Parenting News, Teens, on BrainBloggers at the Parenting Tips blog. More after the jump.
In this day and age we need to make sure that we raise our children up right. In order to do that we need to set up boundaries and limitations. We all know that they will hate most of these limitations that are set upon them – but we are not meant to be their friends. We are their parents and we need to show them what is right. It is time we start with the television and what they watch.
A new study shows that teenagers who watch television shows that are full of sexual content are more likely to involve themselves in pregnancy. The RAND Corporation surveyed 2,000 teenagers from age 12 to 17 from all across the country. They were asked what they watch on television and what their sexual behavior was. The researchers concentrated on 23 shows that were popular among teenagers and more available to view.
The shows included comedies, reality, animated, and drama shows. Sexual content was referred to depictions of sex and talk about it. Three years later the participants were surveyed again. Close to 700 said that they had sexual intercourse.
Those who had watched shows with the most sexual content were twice as likely to become pregnant when compared to teens who did not watch as much. Those who had two parents were not as likely and those who had behavior problems were more likely to.
Anita Chandra, the behavioral scientist at RAND, said that, “Adolescents receive a considerable amount of information about sex through television and that programming typically does not highlight the risks and responsibilities of sex,” said Chandra, in a news release. “Our findings suggest that television may play a significant role in the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the United States.”