Can TV Make Teenagers Pregnant?
Yesterday, the American Academy of Pediatrics released the results of a study of conducted on teens aged 12 through 17, followed over the course of three years. The teenagers who saw the most flirting, sexual conversation and sex scenes on TV during that period of time were more than twice as likely to become pregnant, or get someone pregnant, than those who saw the least.
Teenage pregnancy rates had been gradually falling over the past 15 years, but lately they have been on the rise again. Some have laid the blame on the phenomenal number of celebrity moms. Stars who appeal to teenagers, like Ashlee Simpson and Nicole Ritchie are moms or moms-to-be, and teenage celebrities like Bristol Palin and Jamie Lynn Spears have been accused of making teen pregnancy cool.
But even if our kids are buying Ashlee Simpson’s records, and want to wear Nicole Ritchie’s upcoming jewelry range, and watch Jamie Lynn in Zoey 101, all of that is ultimately superficial and not life changing. (By the way, anyone else think Bristol Palin is missing an opportunity? No product endorsements, clothing ranges or roles in teen dramas that I’ve heard of.)
But does watching sex on TV make teens more likely to have sex? Or, are teens who are more interested in sex are also more likely to watch sex on TV?
It’s certainly true that there’s more sex than ever on television than there ever has been, and more in magazines aimed at teens, in advertising, in the movies, in the clothing stores at the mall.
Teen pregnancy certainly isn’t a simple issue and the cause isn’t solely television, media, or celebrities having babies. And although no-one can tell a celebrity whether or not to get pregnant, and it’s hard, if not impossible to control what television a teenager watches.
But parents can try to talk to teens about sex, and especially about safe sex. And perhaps seeing sex on television, rather than being made a scapegoat, can be used as a way to start the conversation.
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Multi-Tasking Mommy says...
My hubby and I were just watching an episode of the OC that started off with an intro with the characters speaking in real life about sex, safe sex, etc. I thought that was really great that they did that because it is a show depicting high school kids and yet just about everyone is sexually active, which I don’t believe is necessarily true. It almost makes teens assume that that is what is supposed to happen. But, I was glad that the show took 2 minutes at the beginning of the episode for some sex education.
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