LOS ANGELES – While it has long been assumed that risqué movies can cause risky behavior, there is now scientific data to back it up.
According to a new study conducted by psychological scientists at Dartmouth University, children who watch features films with sexual content have a tendency to start having sex at a younger age, have more casual sexual partners, and engage in unsafe sexual practices.
Using 1,228 participants aged 12-14, the study – entitled “Greater Exposure to Sexual Content in Popular Movies Predicts Earlier Sexual Debut and Increased Risk-Taking” – has raised renewed concern over the potentially dangerous affect Hollywood has on adolescents. What many have found particularly disturbing is that the sexual content is not only limited to R-rated films. Researchers found that 68 percent of G, 82 percent of PG, and 85 percent of PG-13 rated movies of the 684 movies included in the study contained sexual situations.
“Impressionable children and teens are influenced by the media they consume. Over 60 years of research and over 3,000 studies now have linked violent media content and aggression, cigarette smoking in films and the likelihood teens will take-up smoking, and more recently, exposure to sexual content in entertainment and early onset of sexual activity in teens,” Melissa Henson, Director of Communications and Public Education at the Parents Television Council (PTC), an organization that monitors connections between a child’s media consumption and their behavior, told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column.
Before recruiting participants, the authors coded the movies for seconds of sexual content, which was defined as any sexual act, from passionate kissing all the way to intercourse. G-rated movies like “The Princess Diaries” contained 42 seconds of sexually-related material, PG-13 movie “Meet Joe Black” had 170 seconds, while another PG-rated movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” had 78 seconds.
According to a new study conducted by psychological scientists at Dartmouth University, children who watch features films with sexual content have a tendency to start having sex at a younger age, have more casual sexual partners, and engage in unsafe sexual practices.
Using 1,228 participants aged 12-14, the study – entitled “Greater Exposure to Sexual Content in Popular Movies Predicts Earlier Sexual Debut and Increased Risk-Taking” – has raised renewed concern over the potentially dangerous affect Hollywood has on adolescents. What many have found particularly disturbing is that the sexual content is not only limited to R-rated films. Researchers found that 68 percent of G, 82 percent of PG, and 85 percent of PG-13 rated movies of the 684 movies included in the study contained sexual situations.
“Impressionable children and teens are influenced by the media they consume. Over 60 years of research and over 3,000 studies now have linked violent media content and aggression, cigarette smoking in films and the likelihood teens will take-up smoking, and more recently, exposure to sexual content in entertainment and early onset of sexual activity in teens,” Melissa Henson, Director of Communications and Public Education at the Parents Television Council (PTC), an organization that monitors connections between a child’s media consumption and their behavior, told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column.
Before recruiting participants, the authors coded the movies for seconds of sexual content, which was defined as any sexual act, from passionate kissing all the way to intercourse. G-rated movies like “The Princess Diaries” contained 42 seconds of sexually-related material, PG-13 movie “Meet Joe Black” had 170 seconds, while another PG-rated movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” had 78 seconds.
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