Comments on: Sexual content on TV affects teen pregnancy rates

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:58:20 +0000

I mentioned this research on my blog when it first came out.

By: Kim Siever

Kim Siever — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:53:46 +0000

Yep, another plausible scenario.

By: rick

rick — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:47:36 +0000

I was wondering about TV watching time in relation to parent discussion time i.e. kids who watch the most provocative material also happen to be the kids who watch TV without their parents in the room so they don’t get to have the same sort of discussions, or something to that effect.

By: Kim Siever

Kim Siever — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:28:51 +0000

Thanks for the clarification, Naismith. I admit I rewrote the title to attract attention.

But yes, this study doesn't say much other than that teens who get pregnant also watch sex-filled TV. That could be because TV shows influence behaviour. Perhaps it's because parents who allow their children to watch sexual content on TV also don't care if their children get pregnant. Maybe the type of persons who get pregnant are the same type of persons to watch sex-saturated television. Or something else altogether.

That be said, as Mary pointed out, I did specify that the study reported only a correlation.

By: Mary Siever

Mary Siever — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:20:21 +0000

How does ‘affects’ imply ‘causation’? That’s not the impression I got. And he specifically SAYS correlation. No mention of causation is even found or assumed. I certainly didn’t assume it.

By: Naismith

Naismith — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:09:53 +0000

Please let's not confuse correlation with causation.

The word "affects" in the subject line implies causation.

The Rand study only found a correlation.