Watching TV shows with a high sexual content may increase likelihood of teenage pregnancy, study suggests.

Watching TV shows with a high sexual content may increase likelihood of teenage pregnancy, study suggests.

Researchers from RAND have linked the number of teenage pregnancies to the frequency and amount of TV programmes watched containing sexual content – and have revealed that adolescents who have high levels of exposure to such programmes are twice as likely to become pregnant than those with low exposure levels.

According to RAND, a not-for-profit research organisation based in the US, the amount of sexual content on television has doubled in recent years. In contrast, there are few portrayals of safe sex.

RAND surveyed 2,000 young people between the ages 12 and 17. The study began in 2001, and then the teenagers were surveyed again in 2002 and 2004. The results indicated that the occurrence of teen pregnancy was influenced by programmes with high sex content, and which displayed little regard to the consequences of sexual intercourse or the use of contraceptives.

Anita Chandra, lead author of the study and a behavioural scientist at RAND, commented: “Adolescents receive a considerable amount of information about sex through television and that programming typically does not highlight the risks and responsibilities of sex. Our findings suggest that television may play a significant role in the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the US.”

The US has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies among industrialised nations, with almost one million young women becoming pregnant every year.

Read the full study in November’s US edition of Pediatrics.