By Terry Vanderheyden
CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, March 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Movies, television, music and magazines are fuelling promiscuity in children aged 12-15 according to a new study recently released.
As reported by the Journal of Adolescent Heath, researchers evaluated the effect of the media on the sexual behaviors and intentions of 1,011 12 to 15 year-olds they surveyed.
University of North Carolina scientists Kelly Ladin L’Engle, Jane Brown and Kristin Kenneavy concluded that children who are exposed to more sexual content through the media and who “perceive greater support from the media for teen sexual behavior, report greater intentions to engage in sexual intercourse and more sexual activity.”
The group reported that the majority of the 264 media sources examined found sexually-charged situations were almost always between unmarried couples and usually portrayed sex as “risk-free.”
The group described the media as a “sexual super peer” with an influence at least equal to religion or the relationship between the child and parents. The average age of the children was 13.7 years.
Read the Journal of Adolescent Health report:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_aset=V-WA-A-W-CY-MsSAYWW-UUW-U-AAVCDBVUCZ-AAVBBAVYCZ-DVDDYYZCE-CY-U&_rdoc=3&_fmt=summary&_udi=B6T80-4J95TPT-5&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F2006&_cdi=5072&_orig=search&_st=13&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=8cca7d368c489b323527a29892bbc8e6