Film sex scenes linked to teen sexuality
Alarmingly, psychologists found teens exposed to more sex on screen in films are likely to have sexualrelations with more people and without using condoms.
They said for each hour of exposure to sexual content on-screen, participants were more than five times more likely to lose their virginity within six years.
Love scenes, they said, “fundamentally influence” a teenager’s personality.
“Adolescents who are exposed to more sexual content in movies start having sex at younger ages, have more sexual partners, and are less likely to use condoms with casual sexual partners,” said Dr Ross O’Hara, who led the study.
The team, reporting in Psychological Science, studied 1,228 children aged between 12 and 14 and then analysed their sexual behaviour six years later.
Each teenager identified which popular films of differing classifications they had seen from a list of 50.
Six years later they were asked how old they were when they became sexually active, how many partners they had, how risky their sexual behaviour was, and whether they used condoms.
The findings provided a link between exposure to sex on screen and sexual behaviour.
An analysis of the sexual content of 684 of the biggest-grossing films released between 1998 and 2004 found they included scenes of a sexual nature, ranging from sexual scenes to heavy kissing.
These include Austin Powers, staring Mike Myers; Notting Hill, with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant; American Beauty, staring Kevin Spacey; and James Bond films such as The World is Not Enough.
