by Laura Lamp King

Created on: October 09, 2010

The first step in combating the dangerous influence the media has on your teenager, is to educate yourself regarding the exact information your child is being exposed to.  The second step is to examine what influences your child is being exposed to in your own home.

According to the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 46% of all high school seniors have had sexual intercourse, and 14 have had four or more partners.  Pregnancy rates have generally been decreasing since 1991, but for the first time in 15 years the birth rate increased 3% between 2005 - 2006.  

Pregnancy isn't the only issue regarding early sexual activity among teenagers.  Adolescents have one of the highest sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates of any age group.   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that one in four teens had an STI.   While 15-24 year old's represent just 25% of the sexually active population in the United States, they contract nearly half of all new STIs every year.  The US has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the Western Hemisphere.

 Adolescents in America spend about 7 hours, one-quarter of the 24 hour day, under the influence of different types of media which are filled with sexual messages and images, many of which are unrealistic.  More than 75% of prime-time TV programs contain sexual content, yet any mention of risk, responsibility or consequences of sexual activity is only about 14%.  The amount of sexual content on TV nearly doubled between 1997 and 2001.

Enter "reality TV" in which many shows bring participants together for the sole purpose of "hooking up" with multiple partners, furthering the illusion for adolescents that  random sexual exploitation is not only accepted, but carries no downside whether it be pregnancy, STI's or emotional devastation.   

"Parents need to realize that the media are teaching their kids about sex. And if they don't encourage schools to teach comprehensive sex education then their kids will learn a whole lot that parents are not happy with," says Victor C. Strasburger, MD, Chief, Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

Continuing to be a major source of sexual suggestiveness, music lyrics contain sexual material, including degrading sexual references, about 40% of the time, and healthy sexual messages only about 6%.

Today's teen magazines, popular with pre-adolescent and adolescent girls devote

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>