Exposure to Sexual Content on Television Linked to Teen Pregnancy
Posted on November 17th, 2008 No Comments »
PEDIATRICS Vol. 122 No. 5 November 2008, pp. 1047-1054 doi:10.1542/peds.2007-3066)
A new study links teen exposure to sexual content on television with pregnancy. In “Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings from a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth,” researchers used data from a national survey of teens, ages 12 to 17, to assess whether exposure to television sexual content predicted subsequent pregnancy (girls), or responsibility for pregnancy (boys) over a three-year period. Teenagers who were exposed to levels of televised sexual content in the 90th percentile were 2 times as likely to experience a pregnancy during the three-year period, compared to teens with levels of exposure at the 10th percentile. Although causation was not established in this study, limiting teen exposure to sex in the media and balancing portrayals of sex with information about possible negative consequences might reduce the risk of teen pregnancy, according to the study authors.
