TV stirs up teenagers' sexual drive

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TV stirs up teenagers' sexual drive: Study

 

Reuters

New York, April 6, 2006

Certain teenagers who watch more television are more likely to

become sexually active than those who spend less time in front of

the tube, a new study shows.

 

Dr Sarah Ashby of the University of Wisconsin School of Public

Health in Madison and her colleagues found that, among a group of

4,808 boys and girls younger than 16, those who said their parents

strongly disapproved of sex -- nearly three quarters of the group --

were more likely to start having sex in the following year if they

watched two hours or more of TV daily.

 

The findings, appearing in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent

Medicine, support the hypothesis that "kids who are at overall lower

risk of initiating sex may be more influenced by things that they

see," Ashby said. For teens who don't sense parental disapproval,

she added, "the cat is already out of the bag."

 

Parental disapproval in itself did indeed cut the risk of kids

becoming sexually active -- 12.5 per cent of these teens started

having sex, compared to 24.1 per cent of those who didn't feel their

parents disapproved of sex.

 

Among kids who sensed parental disapproval, the more TV they

watched, the greater their likelihood of becoming sexually active --

up to a point.

 

Those who watched two to five hours were more than twice as likely

as those who watched less than an hour daily to start having sex.

But teens logging five hours of daily TV or more were at no greater

risk of starting to have sex than those who watched less than two

hours.

 

It's possible that these children were watching so much television

that they had no time for other activities, including sex, the

researchers note.

 

The researchers also found that sexual initiation was more likely

among teens who sensed parental disapproval of sex if their parents

made no effort to regulate their TV watching.

 

The findings show, Ashby told Reuters Health, that "it's important

that parents convey very clearly their values about sexual behaviour

to their children." What's more, she added, they should take other

steps to reduce their children's risk of having sex, including

keeping an eye on their TV viewing habits.

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