(November 3, 2008)--Pregnancy rates are much higher among teenagers who watch a lot of TV with sexual dialogue and behavior compared with those who have tamer viewing tastes, groundbreaking research suggests.
The new study is the first to link those viewing habits with teen pregnancy.
The study involved about 2,000 12-to-17-year-old girls and boys nationwide who were questioned by telephone about their TV viewing habits.
The teens were first interviewed in 2001, and then were re-interviewed twice, the last time in 2004.
Participants were asked how often they watched any of more than 20 TV shows popular among teens at the time or which were found to have lots of sexual content including "Sex and the
City," "That 70s Show" and "Friends."
Pregnancies were twice as common among teens who said they watched such shows regularly, compared with teens who said they hardly ever viewed them.
The study is in the November issue of Pediatrics.
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