Topic: Parenting
News and Opinion. Study Shows Much Higher Pregnancy Rate Among Teens who Watch Sexually Charged TV. The Rand Corporation Recently released the findings of an interesting study...by A.H. Dowden
(libertarian)
Friday, January 23, 2009
News:
The Rand Corporation recently released a study detailing the correlation between teens who watch sex-laden TV series, and higher pregnancy rates. And it wasn't a small blip. The study showed teens who watch TV with a high sexual content were more than twice as likely to become pregnant or get someone pregnant. Rand first interviewed over 2000 teen-aged boys and girls about their TV viewing habits in 2001. By the year 2004, 58% of the girls had become pregnant. 33% of the boys had gotten a girl pregnant. The numbers are roughly double those of teens who rarely watch sexually charged television.
Bill Ablert with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, when asked about the Rand findings commented, "Media helps shape the social script for teenagers. Most parents know that. This is just good research to confirm that."
Opinion:
While I agree that common sense tells us that television is a strong force in shaping the minds and social norms of impressionable adolescents, I think these kinds of studies leave some critical details out. I'm not sure there was any data taken on things such as: living situation, number of parents in the home, moral background or income level. The questions that spring to life in my mind are; Are these just disadvantaged kids with no guidance and constant role model? Are these just kids with no adult around? Are the kids that didn't get pregnant from stable, loving, two-parent households? Why these researchers don't go deeper to capture more than surface numbers is, and always has been a complete mystery to me. Only then will these numbers give us a real sense of the value of the unspoken social norms that I feel are the underpinning of our society. The norms American liberals have been hell-bent on rebelling against since the 1960's.
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article are those of A.H. Dowden only and do not represent
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Liberals aren't against those strong social norms that you refer to ~ ABSTINANCE ~ we just think that you should OPEN your eyes a little and realize that we're not living in the DARK AGES anymore.
Don't you Libertarians think that respect for mom and dad should be EARNED? Don't you think that the right to smoke and drink, carry a gun, and have sex with whomever you want should be the UNRESTRICTED FREEDOM of every human being? Don't you think that we should abolish speed limits and traffic lights because they impede your freedom?
Those are the so-called Libertarian social values that I'm sure you're referring to, aren't they? Yeah, those will really work! I'd actually rather have my kids watch tv!
Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: 2009-01-23 13:40:46
Wow, unsupervised teens who are exposed to sexual content but not taught anything about it by anyone but their peers are having unprotected sex?
Whodathunkit?
Maybe we need more data before we can figure out the cause. It certainly couldn't be the result of a culture in denial about human nature could it? How dare those horny teens do anything about their sexual maturity until society says they are ready! (more to the point, until society can no longer impose chaste behavior on individuals)
Centuries of tug-of-war between the conservative denial of sexual maturity and the liberal non-chalance towards exposure without knowledge or guidance except from peers in a very narrow age range through government indoctrination center age seggregation policies, have resulted in creeping ignorance passed down through generations. Parents on both sides cloak themselves in their personal faiths to rationalize such irresponsible behavior.
The endless finger pointing at a correlations to tv, or to drugs, or to family, or income is nothing more than a passion-addicts hobby. Until kids are given the appropriate sexual education before they are even close to sexual maturity this issue will continue. However that is accomplished has to be as effective for kids with Zero or Negative influence parents as well as kids in a traditional family situation. Maybe through TV and video games? Today, very few kids in ANY of these situations are getting important information when they can use it most. It isn't happening everwhere and not at the same pace everywhere. The combination of ignorance and disconnection from consequences is bound to lead to unprotected sex no matter what the apparent situation of any individual.. Regardless of what the statistical coorelation might indicate about the group that contains an individual, the individual still need the right information at the right time.
So... kids get pregnant because they don't know what happens when they have sex? I'm not being facetious either. That's the jist of your comment in my estimation.
I think you often mistake FANS for SYMPATHIZERS. I don't even think that you can write an article of more than 300 words. You're just the short ball hitter of the Libertarian league. And, all your stuff comes right out of newspapers and internet articles. No original thinking at all.
Aw! How did you know I was talking about you master c?
The news and opinion blurb you just commented on is 305 words. You must be a Berkley mathematics professor. I appreciate your contributing to my readership.
I have to read the ENEMY so that I know what he's trying to do. I don't enjoy it, anymore than I do listening to Limbaugh or Hannity, but you've got to know what the BAD GUYS are saying so that you can counter their fabrications and slanders.
You are like a ONE-WAY train ~ easy to follow, easy to predict, and easy to knock off the tracks. You ever write anything over 500 words, by the way, or can't you concentrate that long? Ever make an ORIGINAL observation or just like to quote OTHER people?
Ive been saying the same thing for years regarding this topic. Good to know there is another who also shares my opinion.
-AH Dowden
Its quite dishonest to throw this at the feet of social liberals because they tend to be more open about sex as opposed to social conservatives. The core problem with this issue is education and parenting. Sadly that this is very rarely mentioned in these types of discussions. Basically the arguments you hear are the following;
Liberals accuse conservatives of being over zealous bible thumpers who want to stick their noses in peoples bedrooms while the conservatives accuse the liberals of being immoral deviants to want to destroy society. I rarely see anything meaningful discussed on this topic with the exception of sites like these.
Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2009-01-25 05:05:23
Master C complains that the author of this article doesn't engage in any original thinking. That's definitely a case of the pot calling the kettle black, because Master C hasn't written any original thoughts since he arrived at this website.
I wonder if the authors of the study referenced in the article even bothered to consider the likelihood that the teens who wanted to watch the sexually charged programs were already pre-disposed to have unprotected sex?
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