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MUMBAI:
Teenagers who are exposed to sex-saturated content on TV are
twice as likely to be involved in a pregnancy over the following
three years as their peers who don't watch such shows.
According
to a three-year study conducted by RAND research organisation,
this is the first study to viewing of racy television programing
with risky sexual behavior by teens.
"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 10 of adolescents who watched the most sex-saturated
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."
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