TV Influences Teens: Programs with sexually oriented conversations have as much effect as those that depict sex or imply that sex has happened, says psychologist Rebecca Collins of RAND Corp. in Santa Monica, CA. The research is the first that takes into account other factors linked to early teen sex — such as poor grades, low parent education, having older friends and living in a one-parent home — and tracks how TV-watching might predict sexual activity. Kids who said they watched more sex-oriented programs at the beginning of the year were more likely than others their age to become sexually active during the next year. Those in the top 10% for viewing of sexually related scenes were twice as likely to engage in intercourse as those in the lowest 10%. The more sex-oriented scenes they saw, the more likely they were to become sexually active. Collins says, “It’s social learning: ‘monkey see, monkey do’. If everyone’s talking about sex or having it, and something bad hardly ever comes out of it, because it doesn’t on TV, then they think, ‘Hey, the whole ‘world’s doing it,
...