Study links teen pregnancy to sexy TV shows

The title conveys quite a bit. Tiffany and I own a television, but we haven't paid for any programming (nor do we use an antenna) for over a year now. Our TV is thus a glorified movie player -- we have no channels. I don't say that to toot my own horn, but to make a point. In the last year, there's lots of garbage we haven't put in our heads. And in the last year, we haven't allowed our primary discipleship program to be the television. Believe it or not, whatever you devote the most time to: the Bible or the television -- will shape how and what you think the most. Read this excerpt from the above-mentioned article:

"Our findings suggest that television may play a significant role in the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the United States," said Anita Chandra, a behavioral scientist who led the research at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

"We're not saying we're establishing causation, but we are saying this is one factor that we were able to prospectively link to the teen pregnancy outcome," Chandra said in a phone interview.

The researchers recruited adolescents aged 12 to 17 and surveyed them three times between 2001 and 2004, asking about television viewing habits, sexual behavior and pregnancy.

In findings that covered 718 teenagers, there were 91 pregnancies. The top 10th of adolescents who watched the most sexy programing were at double the risk of becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy compared to the 10th who watched the fewest such programs, according to the study published in the journal Pediatrics.

The study focused on 23 free and cable television programs popular among teenagers including situation comedies, dramas, reality programs and animated shows. Comedies had the most sexual content and reality programs the least.

"The television content we see very rarely highlights the negative aspects of sex or the risks and responsibilities," Chandra said. "So if teens are getting any information about sex they're rarely getting information about pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases."

I think those findings speak volumes. Tiffany and I have realized how hard it can be to have conversation with people now that we don't watch TV. Since most of our new information comes from print media, we tend to research media's claims more that interest us. We also find that we think for ourselves on many issues that most TV-watchers are swayed on from liberal media -- particularly election issues. For the record, we support neither Obama nor McCain -- we proudly support Chuck Baldwin for President.


What do you think? Do you think this is all "bunk" or does the television genuinely influence how and what you think and believe?