Source+8

"The Media and Teen Pregnancy, Effects on American Families." //The Media and Teen Pregnancy, Effects on American Families//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Aug. 2012. . __ Facts __
 * 1) This article presented an overview of the ways in which media can influence teenage sexuality. When this article was written, there was a huge increase in the number of movies, television shows, songs, and other media, that had sexual references. Most of them do not mention the negative consequences of sexual behavior.
 * 2) Because of the prevalence of sexual media in today’s society, Brown notes three theoretical ways in which this media can influence adolescent behaviors and attitudes toward sex; by keeping sexual behavior current and relevant, by reinforcing sexual norms, and by not acknowledging the responsibilities associated with sex.
 * 3) This study looked at the impact that different forms of media, such as television, music videos, magazines, and movies, have on adolescent sexual behaviors.
 * 4) The researchers used what is called the sexual media diet (SMD) as a measure of how much of the media these adolescents expose themselves to contain sexual content.
 * 5) This was measured against the teens’ sexual behaviors. This was a longitudinal study, so each subject was asked to participate twice (once at age 12-14 and again at age 14-16).
 * 6) The researchers found that the media had an effect on the sexual behavior of white adolescents, but had no significant effect on the sexual behavior of black teens.
 * 7) This is important when I consider the audience of my website. I need to realize that most of the families affected by the sexual media are white families, which may shape the way I present arguments.
 * 8) The researchers in this study surveyed a group of teens in a longitudinal survey to find if there is a link between watching sex on T.V. and teen pregnancy.
 * 9) The claim made in this article is that by watching more sex on T.V., adolescents develop more lax views on sex and its repercussions. The data definitely backs up the claim. After controlling for total T.V. watched, race/ethnicity, family structure, and other covariates, teens that were in the 90th percentile of watching sex on T.V. were 2 times more likely to be involved in a pregnancy.
 * 10) The study also showed that watching sex on T.V. did not significantly influence an early initiation to sexual behavior, but led to more risky sexual behavior. From this article, I was able to firmly support the idea that sex on T.V. influences teenage pregnancy, which is the basis for my project.
 * 11) East’s study focused on the effects of teen motherhood on younger siblings of the teen mom. She found that both younger sisters and brothers are affected by the experience, but in different ways.
 * 12) The younger sisters of teen mothers felt that their own personal career goals would be hard to achieve, were more accepting of teenage motherhood, and engaged in problem behavior at school.
 * 13) East concluded that the younger daughter may be acting out because she is not receiving as much attention as her older sister and the new baby.
 * 14) These siblings of teen moms were also five times more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior than those younger siblings without a parenting older sister. The pregnancy affected the younger brothers in various ways.
 * 15) These brothers of teen moms had lower self esteem, experienced more problems in school, and were more accepting of teenage childbearing than younger brothers of non-parenting teens. These results reveal some interesting and serious consequences of teenage pregnancy for the entire family, which supports my research.