What Would We Do Without Studies?
They spent money on this?
Sexual content on television is strongly associated with teen pregnancy, a new study from the RAND Corporation shows.
Researchers at the nonprofit organization found that adolescents with a high level of exposure to television shows with sexual content are twice as likely to get pregnant or impregnate someone as those who saw fewer programs of this kind over a period of three years. It is the first study to demonstrate this association, RAND said.
Next week, RAND comes out with their study that gravity leads to falling.
The suggested remedy is equally obvious.
A central message from the study is that there needs to be more dialogue about sex in the media, particularly among parents and their children, said Anita Chandra, the study’s lead author and a behavioral scientist at RAND.
Although the Hollywood culture is certainly a major contributor to the oversexualization of the media (and they could do their part, but won’t, and will whine publicly and loudly if you suggest they do), parents still need to be the gatekeeper.
As my kids would say, "Thank you, Captain Obvious!"
Filed under: Culture • Media • Movies • Music • Television
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In academia, the basics must be measured before you can build on them to have bigger findings. Furthermore, there are so many poorly done studies that a well-done study, even if it finds an intuitive result, is extremely valuable. This kind of research is essential to policy and other social research. Please keep academia honest, but also please understand and appreciate what academia produces.
Yes, you are correct, of course. I guess I’m echoing the folks who were seated near me in the airport when this news came across CNN. (“We needed a study to tell us this?”) That this should be considered “news”, never mind that it had to be studied, speaks to how many moral lessons our society has forgotten.