SEXY LYRICS MAY LEAD TO EARLY SEXUAL INTERCOURSE IN TEENS STUDY FINDS:
Filthy sex talk in songs trigger sexual activity; abstinence message
ignored
There is a correlation between sexually explicit lyrics and sexual
behavior in teens according to a recent study.
Telephone interviews with 1,461 participants aged 12 to 17 were
conducted over three years was the basis for the findings. AP reports
that most participants were virgins when they were first questioned in
2001. Follow-up interviews were done in 2002 and 2004 to see if music
choice had influenced subsequent behavior.
Fifty-one percent of listeners who heard the degrading lyrics
frequently started having sex within two years, versus 29 percent of
those who said they listened to little or no sexually explicit music.
Lead author of the study Steven Martino, a researcher for Rand
Corp. said they looked for factors other than music that could affect
teens' sexual behavior, including parental permissiveness, and still
found explicit lyrics had a prevalent impact.
Yvonne K. Fulbright, a New York-based sex researcher and author
disagrees.
"It's a little dangerous to just pinpoint one thing. You have to
look at everything that's going on in a young person's life," she said.
"When somebody has a healthy sense of themselves, they don't take these
lyrics too seriously." Fulbright believes factors including peer
pressure, self-esteem and home environment are probably more influential
than the research suggests.
New Brunswick, N.J. resident, 17-year-old Natasha Ramsey, said she
and other teens are drawn to crass lyrical content because of the beat.
"I won't really realize that the person is talking about having
sex or raping a girl," she said. Even so, the message "is being beaten
into the teens' heads," she said. "We don't even really realize how
much."
American teens at large are not getting the message of abstinence.
The consequences are grave:
According to Concerned Women of America, the United States is
still the industrialized nations' world leader in teen pregnancies and
STDs, and a report by Child Trends revealed few teens using birth
control. Less than 30 percent of females and less than half of males
said they consistently use condoms, and nearly 20 percent of females and
over 10 percent of males reported that they never use a condom.
The study appears in the August issue of Pediatrics
Filthy sex talk in songs trigger sexual activity; abstinence message
ignored
There is a correlation between sexually explicit lyrics and sexual
behavior in teens according to a recent study.
Telephone interviews with 1,461 participants aged 12 to 17 were
conducted over three years was the basis for the findings. AP reports
that most participants were virgins when they were first questioned in
2001. Follow-up interviews were done in 2002 and 2004 to see if music
choice had influenced subsequent behavior.
Fifty-one percent of listeners who heard the degrading lyrics
frequently started having sex within two years, versus 29 percent of
those who said they listened to little or no sexually explicit music.
Lead author of the study Steven Martino, a researcher for Rand
Corp. said they looked for factors other than music that could affect
teens' sexual behavior, including parental permissiveness, and still
found explicit lyrics had a prevalent impact.
Yvonne K. Fulbright, a New York-based sex researcher and author
disagrees.
"It's a little dangerous to just pinpoint one thing. You have to
look at everything that's going on in a young person's life," she said.
"When somebody has a healthy sense of themselves, they don't take these
lyrics too seriously." Fulbright believes factors including peer
pressure, self-esteem and home environment are probably more influential
than the research suggests.
New Brunswick, N.J. resident, 17-year-old Natasha Ramsey, said she
and other teens are drawn to crass lyrical content because of the beat.
"I won't really realize that the person is talking about having
sex or raping a girl," she said. Even so, the message "is being beaten
into the teens' heads," she said. "We don't even really realize how
much."
American teens at large are not getting the message of abstinence.
The consequences are grave:
According to Concerned Women of America, the United States is
still the industrialized nations' world leader in teen pregnancies and
STDs, and a report by Child Trends revealed few teens using birth
control. Less than 30 percent of females and less than half of males
said they consistently use condoms, and nearly 20 percent of females and
over 10 percent of males reported that they never use a condom.
The study appears in the August issue of Pediatrics
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