Sex in movies influences teens' behavior, study confirms

Exposure to sexual content in movies leads teenagers to have sex earlier and to participate in riskier sexual behavior, a study has confirmed, leading researchers to suggest incorporating media literacy training into sexual education.

The study, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, said roughly 85 percent of movies released from 1950 to 2006 contained sexual content, and only 9 percent of sexual content in movies contained messages promoting sexual health. Sexual explicitness of PG-13-rated and R-rated movies has increased over the past decade, researchers also said. Evidence suggests that adolescents' sexual attitudes and behavior are influenced more by movies than by other forms of media, the study said.

"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," Ross O'Hara, who conducted the research with other psychological scientists at Dartmouth College, said. Read more

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Study: 85 percent of films have sexual content