CHICAGO -Children who watched a lot of TV with sexual content were about twice as likely to start having intercourse during the subsequent year as those with little exposure to televised sex, researchers found.
High exposure to TV sex among those age 12 to 17 also was linked with a lower but still substantially increased risk of starting non-intercourse behavior, including passionate kissing and oral sex, the researchers found. Even shows that only refer to sex but don't depict it had the effect, they found.
Exposure to TV that included only talk about sex was associated with the same risks as exposure to TV that depicted sexual behavior
said Rand Corp. behavioral scientist Rebecca Collins and colleagues.
From innuendoes to depictions of intercourse, sex is pervasive on TV, present in about two-thirds of all shows other than news and sports, and teens watch an average of three hours of television daily, previous research has shown.
TV thus may create the illusion that sex is more central to daily life than it truly is and may promote sexual initiation as a result the researchers said.
When they're watching it for three hours a day it really does become their social world. Those characters are people they identify with and pay attention to
said Collins, the lead researcher.
TV sex rarely deals with negative aspects most teens aren't prepared to deal with, including unwanted pregnancy, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, she said.
That sends kids the message that everybody's having sex and nobody's thinking about responsibility and nothing bad ever happens
Collins said. You don't see the fade to black
the couple has sex
and the next morning says
'You gave me an STD.'
The study appears in September's Pediatrics, released today.
The results are based on nationwide telephone surveys of 1,792 adolescents queried in 2001 and again in 2002.
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