Study Links Teens, TV, and Sexual Activity

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A RAND Corp. study found that “teenagers who watch a lot of television with sexual content are twice as likely to engage in intercourse than those who watch few such programs.”

As reported by Reuters and cited by CNN.com:
cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/09/07/tv.teen.sex.reut/index.html

Another good reason, if we don’t have enough already, to think about our children’s TV viewing.
 
Well, I guess I didn’t need a study to tell me that watching sexualized TV shows increase teen sexual activity. :eek:

I wonder if this is another shinging example of our tax dollars at work to prove the obvious.

Thanks for the link, though. It is good to give parents ammunition.
 
La Chiara:
A RAND Corp. study found that “teenagers who watch a lot of television with sexual content are twice as likely to engage in intercourse than those who watch few such programs.”

As reported by Reuters and cited by CNN.com:
cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/09/07/tv.teen.sex.reut/index.html

Another good reason, if we don’t have enough already, to think about our children’s TV viewing.
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(snort) They needed a study to figure this out? Gosh, televise sex, sex, and more sex to impressionable young people, many of whom do not have parents around to tell them what’s right and wrong or to shut off the TV…and then wonder why those impressionable young people are so eager to engage in behavior that is promoted as cool, adult, fun, rebellious, and risk-free (rarely is anyone portrayed as getting pregnant, and no one ever gets an STD).

:banghead:
 
I thought RAND was a private group. It makes sense, of all the sexual actvitiy that is implied on TV/Movies how much of it is between characters that are married?
 
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renee1258:
I thought RAND was a private group. It makes sense, of all the sexual actvitiy that is implied on TV/Movies how much of it is between characters that are married?
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RAND is a private (or not-for-profit) think tank (research agency). RAND does a lot of studies under contract for federal government agencies. In fact, this study was done for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (according to the CNN article). While we could probably have guessed that a study would find exactly these results, such a study serves the purpose of scientifically confirming those expectations. I am always surprised by how many otherwise intelligent parents don’t believe that watching TV is harmful. (Then again, many may not even see teenage sex as “harmful”.)
 
The interesting thing is that how this information will be used. I suspect that the Pro-Choice people will use it to promote their propaganda material.:hmmm:

Moe
 
There is a study out there that shows that vegitables kill who ever eats them.

It is a fact that everyone has eaten a vegitable at least once in their life.

It is a fact that everyone dies.

So…

Vegitables kill!

Studies can be done to prove anything.

It is very hard to prove links between things.
 
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ByzCath:
There is a study out there that shows that vegitables kill who ever eats them.

It is a fact that everyone has eaten a vegitable at least once in their life.

It is a fact that everyone dies.

So…

Vegitables kill!

Studies can be done to prove anything.

It is very hard to prove links between things.
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haha–ByzCath raises the distiction between causation and correlation, and it is a good point. But on the question of soft porn TV and teen fornication, I don’t think anyone could muster a serious argument that there is not a causal relationship.

Chris C.
 
A more interesting recent study in the Journal of Sex Research (yes, there is such a thing) shows that fear of contracting a disease is not a particularly powerful deterrent when it comes to teenage fornication. Moral arguments apparently carry more weight with teens. Folks who are hoping for long-term results from secular abstinence-based sex ed prgrams are going to be dissapointed. Abstinence is a behavior; chastity is a virtue. Without the latter, the former is almost meaningless.

Chris C.
 
Chris C.:
haha–ByzCath raises the distiction between causation and correlation, and it is a good point. But on the question of soft porn TV and teen fornication, I don’t think anyone could muster a serious argument that there is not a causal relationship.

Chris C.
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Chris,
While I can agree with your statment, that is not what the study showed. The quoted article says A RAND Corp. study found that “teenagers who watch a lot of television with sexual content are twice as likely to engage in intercourse than those who watch few such programs.”

It does not mention “soft porn”.

There is a distiniction hereA RAND Corp. study found that “teenagers who watch a lot of television with sexual content are twice as likely to engage in intercourse than those who watch few such programs.”
 
Chris C.:
haha–ByzCath raises the distiction between causation and correlation, and it is a good point. But on the question of soft porn TV and teen fornication, I don’t think anyone could muster a serious argument that there is not a causal relationship.
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I’d agree that it would be hard to make a serious argument against causality, but who’s to say that one necessarily causes the other? Not that I’m advocating large amount of TV watching for teens, but there’s too many unknowns in the study as described in the article. Morality of the kids, onset of puberty, parental involvement, etc. It could be that in at least some cases, these other factors make the children more apt to watch the bad shows. I’ve known plenty of children who do a very good job of policing what shows they watch, if they even watch any tv and are not reading a book. Maybe I’m just trying to be too optimistic about the younger generation…
 
Studies have shown that all mankind came from a single woman

Studies have shown that there was a great flood

Studies have shown that two parent families (mother & father) produce more well formed children than not

Studies have shown that sex on tv leads to earlier sex in teens

Good to know that science is finally CONFORMING to the BIBLE :rolleyes:
 
Faithful 2 Rome:
Studies have shown that sex on tv leads to earlier sex in teens

Good to know that science is finally CONFORMING to the BIBLE :rolleyes:
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And what Bible are you reading that has this in it?
 
I KNOW you know what I meant…Bible. ie…Christian Beliefs…I dont feel like semantic debating.
 
Faithful 2 Rome:
I KNOW you know what I meant…Bible. ie…Christian Beliefs…I dont feel like semantic debating.
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Ok then, what Christian Belief shows the causality between TV and any action?

So then violent TV leads to murder.

Watching TV shows that portray theft cause an increase in theft?

You can not lay the blame on on thing in society unless the teenagers this study looked at live in a box and only have a TV and no other societial influence.
 
ByzCath–

I call it soft porn because that is what it is. I suppose we could debate what pornography is. Sexual content that is intended to arouse would be my definition. I do think by the way there is a relationship between televised violence and criminal brutality. I did not used to, but I do now. folkswho deny the effect of TV on human behavior will find a ton of folks who work on Madison Avenue disagreeing with them. I agree that showing a causal relationship, in what is hilariousy called “social science” is difficult. There are so many factors for which to control. It does not mean that we cannot be intelligently informed by trends. In the end, howeve, I am less interested in arguments based on social trends than I am in arguments based on natural and revealed law.

Chris C.
 
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