According to a recent study, teenagers who watch television programs with sexual content are two times as likely to engage in sexual activity at an earlier age than their peers who do not watch such shows. The study was released Sept. 7 in Pediatrics, a journal published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. While the results of this study are not groundbreaking, they do confirm the fears of many parents across the United States.

The research team, headed by Rebecca Collins, a psychologist at RAND Corporation, conducted a longitudinal telephone survey of 1,792 adolescents, ranging in age from 12 to 17 years old. The same participants received a follow-up interview one year later. Those involved in the study were asked questions concerning their TV viewing habits, their sexual experiences and sexual behaviour.

The results showed that teenage sexual initiation begins at earlier ages with individuals watching explicit sex acts on television. Early-age sexual activity can also be accounted for by teens watching programs only containing sexual references. It is these results that come as a surprise to many parents. The study reported that approximately two-thirds of all television programs contain sexual content and the average teenager watches three hours of television each day.

It is these results that people such as Daniel Weiss, media and sexuality analyst with Focus on the Family, hope parents will pay close attention to. “A study like this really is the final nail in the coffin for a lot of parents who just are going to realize that the damage, the harm, of TV is going to outweigh the benefits of it.”

The study reports that “parents may be able to reduce the effects of sexual content by watching TV with their teenaged children and discussing their own beliefs about sex and the behaviours portrayed.”

However, while parents may stand up and take notice of these results, it is very unlikely that the entertainment industry will do so, according to Melissa Caldwell, spokeswoman for the Parents Television Council.

The study simply reflects what they have known for years – that sexual behaviour is strongly influenced by culture, and that TV is an integral part of the U.S. culture.

Nonetheless, Weiss feels that the entertainment industry might not have a choice but to listen. “I really think there are members of Congress who are going to take this study very seriously, and I think you might see some renewed activity in Congress based on this.”

The study itself offers the following suggestions: “Reducing the amount of sexual content in entertainment programming, reducing adolescent exposure to this content, or increasing references to and depictions of possible negative consequences of sexual activity, could appreciably delay the initiation of (sexual) and (non-sexual) activities.”

Researcher Collins told Reuters that, “The impact of television viewing is so large that even a moderate shift in the sexual content of adolescent TV watching could have a substantial effect on their sexual behaviour.”

The study states that the social and health issue of sexual initiation is important. It refers to a recent survey suggesting that sexually experienced teens wish they had waited before becoming sexually active.

They also refer to other data reporting that unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are more common among those who begin sexual activity earlier.

As the Family Research Centre notes, the United States is currently experiencing an outbreak of sexually transmitted diseases. It is estimated that nearly two-thirds of stricken individuals are less than 25 years old.

Pro-family advocates hope that this study will lead to a reconsideration of television habits, in order to reverse the tide of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases