Media Violence And Teen Pregnancy

* In 1950, only 10% of American homes had a television and by 1960 the percentage had grown to 90%. Today 99% of homes have a television. In fact, more families own a television than a phone. (1)

Many believe the children are solely responsible for their carelessness that results in early pregnancy. Looking at this problem more broadly, one can see all of the social changes that influence teen pregnancy. For example, the media promotes sex and relationships. According to the RAND Health researcher, Jeffrey Wasserman, children ages 12-18 who saw the most sex on television were twice as likely to initiate intercourse within the next year as to those who saw the least amount of sex in the media (2017). Many television shows and movies contain sexual scenes, but most of them don’t explain the risks of sexual activity. Moreover, teen pregnancy has become more widely accepted. While many still believe it’s wrong, this problem has become unfortunate but acceptable. With shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, the mass media even rewards these teenages for their early pregnancies. The acceptance of early pregnancy has increased, but people are still embarrassed to talk about sex to children and teenagers. Teen pregnancy can be prevented, and it starts with a change in

* For teens, television is a major source of information about sex. A survey conducted in 1997 by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 61 per cent of young teens, ages 13-15, rated entertainment media as their top source of information on sexuality and sex health. This should concern parents because although two-thirds of TV shows contain sexual content, only one in ten includes any reference to safe sex or the consequences of unprotected sex.

The average American teenager watches three hours of television a day. Scientist Rebecca Collins conducted a study to see if watching sexual behavior on TV influenced teenagers’ own behavior. In her results, she found that watching shows with sexual content has a considerable

Nowadays, people all around the world learn and get their influence from mass media. Also, America is the country that has the most access to any mass media. However, mass media type like PG-13 rated movies have been in question for triple gun violence contents since 1985 (Wilson & Hudson 2013). In 2012, the contents of gun violence appeared in PG-13 rated movies exceeded to the contents in R-rated movies ( Bushman 2013: 1017). Since the movies were rated as PG-13, children who are younger than 13 years old can easily have access to the violence contents in the films ( Bushman 2013: 1017). By exposing violence contents in PG-13 rated movies, young teenagers might act out those violence materials in real life. In addition, PG-13 rated movies earn 45% market share with high-grossing movies (Wilson & Hudson 2013).

Over the last decade, media has taken over the majority of the world through twenty-four hour coverage, various television shows and movies, and endless advertisements. There is no way to escape the media, especially the younger generations. Because of the constant coverage, some violence may be covered on the news, in video games, or entertainment. Some believe that the violence brainwashes younger generations and causes them to mirror that cruelty. In “Media Violence Does Not Cause Youth Violence,” Karen Sternheimer argues the opposite. Through appeals and strong premises, Sternheimer wrote a sound and valid argument that only has a few minor faults.

On April 20, 1999, two students walked into Columbine High School armed with shot guns and explosives. The incident ended in tragic results, as fifteen families will forever set one less plate out at the dinner table. March 24, 1998, an eleven year old and a fourteen year old walked into school with hand guns, killing four and injuring ten classmates (teen-violence.com). Thirty years ago, the biggest problem that kids at school were faced with was forgetting homework or being sent to the principal's office. There are many kids today who may fear that the person sitting next to them in class may have a loaded handgun in their book bag. On average one hundred and thirty five thousand weapons are brought into classrooms across the nation each

Sexuality and sex in America is a complicated subject in that there is little consensus on the topic of sex in, and the American media sends many mixed messages regarding sex and sexuality to everyone, not just to adolescents. Americans are aware of sex primarily through advertising (print media, commercials, etc.) as sex is used to sell anything and everything. The media also bombards Americans with sexuality and sex on television and in films. The sexuality of teenagers is not a straightforward issue in America either. Many parents do not discuss sex or sexuality with their children. There have been ongoing debates as to whether sexuality should be taught as part of school curricula because there are such a great deal of adolescents participating in reckless and/or dangerous sexual behaviors, largely because they are grossly uneducated about sex. The paper will reference the film Juno and other texts as a meditation on the relationship between adolescent sexuality and the media.

The term “Teen Pregnancy” was rarely heard or talked about previous to the mid 70’s and Now is consider an epidemic globally. Teen pregnancy refers to women between 13 and 19 years of age, who have not yet reached childbearing age and are still physically and mentally undeveloped to have children. During the early 70’s and middle 80’s teen pregnancies rates reached a peak to uncontrollable numbers. But this social issue has its origins in the 1950’s. Several significant social changes during the late 50s and early 60s such as the “Women’s Rights Movement”, the creation of the anti-conceptive pill , “The Gay liberation movement” of the late 1960s among others, brought along, long-lasting effects that still affect the current American

But those who watch television, mass media can be very influential as adolescents are dealing with physical and emotional transition to adulthood during that point in a child’s life. Juveniles have endless amounts of exposure to mass media, and are most likely to explore in areas of sex and sexuality. According to Miriam Bar-on et al (2001) "the average American adolescents will view nearly 14,000 sexual references per year, yet only 165 of these references deal with birth control, self-control, abstinence, or the risk of pregnancy or STDs" (pg 191). Teens are mostly exposed to sexual advertisements, videos and sexual education on their smart phones. Moreover, another part in which media can affect teenagers is through television violence. Kari Repenning et al (2001) stated “a recent survey found that the average American teenage boy spends as much as 28 hours a week killing, injuring, and destroying, as well as punching, shooting, stabbing, and slogging through video games" (pg 20). Media distorts reality, it makes it seem like all teens that are troubled turn to gun violence, but still the most common crimes in schools are disorderly conduct, theft, and fist fights. As mentioned early just like music videos from rappers containing guns and violence videos game also

There is a great debate on whether or not mass media has an influence on teenage pregnancy. A study done by the RAND Corporation shows that teens are twice as likely to have sex or engage in sexual acts if they see similar sexual behavior in the media. Many objects in the media that involve sex target teens. Reality TV shows and teen dramas often portray the "cool kids" as the ones who are having sex (Chandra).Today’s teens are highly influenced by what they see in the media and this can change their behavior and choices. Some will argue that the media doesn’t influence teenagers, but how can we be sure of that? Today, the media portray teen pregnancy in movies, television shows, magazines, music, news reports, and books. The problems

According to a poll of 10 to 16 year olds done by the advocacy group Children Now, "77 percent say that there is too much premarital sex on T.V., while 62 percent say sex on T.V. and in movies influences kids to have sex when they are too young" (Clark, "Sex, Violence"). The influences of the media is felt everywhere and especially in terms of human sexuality. Everything from TV commercials to the newspaper has some form of sex in it, usually to keep the audience interested. In modern society, the changing times as well as media executives wanting more ratings(and therefore money) have lead to teenagers more willing to try sexual acts at a younger age and the country being more openminded about sexual issues.

American adolescents spend a major amount of time consuming media, weather that is watching television or a movie, playing a video game, or even scrolling through social media apps. This is a large exposure to the media and its content including the violence presented on so many media platforms. Media has become so standard in everyday life that many people have become addicted to it. The targeted group of this addiction is the children since they are most influence able at an early age. Some of the violence shown are so close to reality or have become reality. It makes you wonder why the media violence is not being censored. For over many decades, Americans have grown concerned on the

At the non-profit organization known as RAND Corporation researchers performed three surveys on about 2,000 teens between the ages of 12 to 17 from 2001 to 2004. The results were published in the November edition of the journal Paediatrics, in the publication they focused on 700 participants nationwide who had engaged in sexual intercourse by the third survey. (Landau E, 2008, November 03) The researchers determined that even with the other related factors such as demographics and risk-taking behaviours put into play the connection between television sexual content and teen pregnancy still remained. (Landau E, 2008, November 03) In another survey published in Paediatrics more than 1,000 public middle school students in North Carolina were surveyed at the ages of 12-14 years old and were surveyed again two years later at the ages of 14-16 years old. They measured the students exposure to sexual content in television, movies, music and magazines and were divided into five equal-sized groups ranging from the lowest exposure to the highest exposure. The research showed that white teenagers even after taking into account other factors known to reduce the likelihood of teen sex, like parental disapproval of sex at that age and getting good grades, still increased. In fact each increase in grouping of sexual media exposure increased the likelihood of them being involved in teen sex by

Negative effects of Mass Media for teenagers,  The exposure of sex images and excessive portraits of violence in movies and dramas have instilled negative thoughts and taboos in the mind of these teenagers for they have been consistently getting increased exposure to things which are not suitable for their age.