Sex, the media, and your teen

Sex, the media, and your teen
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 11/8/2008 4:20:00 AM


A recent study reveals a link between teen pregnancy and viewing sexual content on television.

Pro-family groups have been warning for years of the influence that inappropriate television programs can have on viewers, especially adolescents. Janice Crouse with Concerned Women for America comments on RAND Corporation's study. "You know, my first reaction was 'Duh!' Well, of course those kinds of shows have impact on teenagers -- and why would anybody think they could watch that kind of garbage without it having an impact on them?" she contends. "So, I guess basically I'm really happy to see that somebody has documented that fact for those parents who don't have enough common sense to protect their kids from that kind of suggestive and lurid kind of television programming." The study, according to CNN.com, set out to prove that parents need to talk to their children more about sex as they see it and hear about it through various media sources. "Those shows really mainstream and treat as normal the kind of bad stuff that we don't want our kids to absorb," Crouse adds. RAND found that exposure to that type of programming doubled the chance for teen pregnancy over a three-year period of time