The Media and Teen Sexuality

Approximately 50% of 15 to 19 year olds are having sexual intercourse. - Christina Grant

Television, music, videos, the internet; all various forms of educational resources which play a vital role in the lives of today's teens. But, can these same resources, which we rely so heavily upon, influence an adolescent's behavior and attitude towards sex? Is the media teaching today's youth what is or is not sexually acceptable?

Yes, according to Jan D. Brown, a professor of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of North Carolina. Brown conducted a study to discover the effects sexual content on teens and concluded that teens with heavy exposure were:

- Two times more likely to have sex by the age of 16.
- Sexual behavior increased nearly 30 percent over a two year period
- 47.2 percent reported genital touching by the age of 16.
- The study also reported finding that:
- Eleven percent of early adolescents' music contains sexual content. 57% of R&B, 48% of rap music and 19% of heavy metal music was cataloged as
sexual.
- Less than 1 percent of teen media content focuses on sexual health, contraception and consequences.
- African American teens were exposed to more sexual content than Caucasian.
- Television commercials are a major source of sexual content. Of major broadcast and cable networks watched by teens, Comedy Central and MTV
were among the leaders of highest sex content in commercial
- "WWE Smackdown" and Total Request Live", popular shows watched by teens, contained the highest sexual content.

Other studies offer similar results. In one, 75 adolescent girls, half of whom were pregnant, researchers discovered those who were pregnant not only watched more soap operas but were less likely to think that their favorite soap opera characters would use birth control.

Another survey of 391 youths revealed that those who watched television programs with high sexual content were more likely than those who viewed a small proportion of sexual content on television to have sex.