What You Watch Will Get You Pregnant?
We always restrict what my kids can and cannot watch on TV. I think many cartoons today are mindless and many are much too violent for little kids. I think many tween shows are too mature for their audiences also, but maybe I am naive.
Researchers at the RAND research organization said their three-year study was the first to link viewing of racy television programing with risky sexual behavior by teens. I think that is common sense, if it is on TV and in movies you are exposed to you think it is more common behavior than it really should be for your age group.
The researchers recruited adolescents aged 12 to 17 and surveyed them three times between 2001 and 2004, asking about television viewing habits, sexual behavior and pregnancy.
“In the study that worked with 718 teenagers, there were 91 pregnancies. The top 10th of adolescents who watched the most sexy programing were at double the risk of becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy compared to the 10th who watched the fewest such programs, according to the study published in the journal Pediatrics.”
The study focused on 23 free and cable television programs popular among teenagers including comedies, dramas, reality programs and animated shows.
Teen pregnancy rates in the United States have been on the decline since 1991 but is still high compared to other industrialized nations.
Nearly 1 million girls aged 15 to 19 years old become pregnant annually.
Tell me do you monitor what your children watch? Do you let your teenagers make their own decisions on what TV or movies to watch?
teens, tweens, teen pregnancy, parenting, TV for kids, kids television programs, parenting teens
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