PSH

484

Teen Pregnancy and the Media Paper

Teen Pregnancy and the Media
November 11, 2015
PSH 484

The College at Brockport SUNY

By: Baylee Read

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Teen Pregnancy and the Media Paper

The media is an influence that affects so many people, situations, and events. Some

could say that it influences everything in the world some way or another. It also comes in
all shapes and forms: social media, the news, radio, and many others. Now a days there is
practically no way of getting around it, its everywhere. But what starts to happen when the
influence of media starts affecting things in a negative way? For instance, when it comes to
the influence of media on teens, especially teen pregnancy.
American teens today grow up in a world saturated with the mass media. In
general, the media depict a world in which unhealthy behaviors such as
physical aggression, unprotected sex, smoking, and drinking are glamorous
and risk-free. We summarize what is known about the medias effects on four
adolescent health issues that have been studied most comprehensively:
violence and aggression; sex; obesity, nutrition, and eating disorders; and
alcohol and tobacco use. (Brown Ph. D., J., & Witherspoon Ph. D., E., p. 153,
2002)

The world today is so generated by media and technology that it would be

almost impossible for people to go without it. Media is a way to receive knowledge,
communication, and enjoyment. The media controls the current generation of
adolescents. They use it to communicate with people, to receive all their news and
receive some of their education through TV shows, the radio, and movies. These
sources are not reliable under some conditions. TV shows and movies are the places
where teens should be learning about drugs, drinking, and sex. These sources can be
putting off the wrong messages to teens. The media can be teaching our youth that
violence is an appropriate way to resolve conflict, that sexual intercourse comes

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Teen Pregnancy and the Media Paper

before love, that only thin girls can be popular, that smoking, drinking, and using
other drugs are cool (Brown Ph. D., J., & Witherspoon Ph. D., E., p. 153, 2002). They
show all these acts as something that is glamorous and not risky.

It is a sad fact to think about how some adolescents are getting their

information about drinking, drugs, violence, and sex from media sources because
they do not feel comfortable or are not able to receive that information from their
parents or another adult figure. Teens say they would prefer to get sexual
information from their parents, but more than half of adolescents report that they
have learned about pregnancy and birth control from television and movies, and
more than half of teen girls say they learned about sex from magazines. (Brown Ph.
D., J., & Witherspoon Ph. D., E., p. 157, 2002). Even though that now during this age
of such advances in technology and media being such a huge part of peoples daily
lives, media has gotten much more reliable with their information and provide
sources to receive much more information on topics such a sex and birth control, it
is still unsettling that teens feel that these are their only sources.

There have also been studies conducted that have found that more frequent

exposure to sexual content in the media during adolescence predicts earlier

initiation of sexual intercourse (Hust Ph.D., S., Brown Ph. D., J., & Ladin L'Engle Ph.
D., K., p. 5, 2008). It has also been shown that young people who watch 25 or more
hours a week of TV demonstrate more stereotypical sex role attitudes than people
who view TV less (Strasburger, MD, V., p. 69, 2004). These observations made by
the viewers of this exposure to sexual content can be perceived as If those actors
and actresses can do that like that than that must be how it is supposed to be. That

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Teen Pregnancy and the Media Paper

must be how I should do it as well. These observations can affect how the young
viewers portray themselves sexually. If sexually healthy behavior is not modeled in
the media used by teens, it is less likely that young people will adopt sexually
healthy behavior themselves. (Hust Ph.D., S., Brown Ph. D., J., & Ladin L'Engle Ph. D.,
K., p. 5, 2008). The media also portrays certain sexual acts for each gender in
different ways. For example, masturbation is almost always shown as something
that boys do and is a way for them to improve their sexual abilities, and not so much
viewed as an option of risk-free sexual behavior. And masturbation is a topic that is
shown as something that boys joke about with their friends and it not being very
embarrassing, because its boys being boys. Masturbation is almost never a topic
that is discussed in the media about girls. For an example of media of this topic are
from the movie American Pie. This movie is extremely sexually based and has sexual
content throughout the entire movie. In American Pie, the main character is a boy
who is awkward around girls, hasnt lost his virginity yet, and asks his friends what
it feels like to be with a girl, which is when one of his friends said how it feels like
entering a warm apple pie. Then when the main character gets caught
masturbating with a apple pie, it turns in an extremely awkward situation where his
father then feels the need to try to talk to him about sexual intercourse (Hust Ph.D.,
S., Brown Ph. D., J., & Ladin L'Engle Ph. D., K., p. 15, 2008). Yet again in this movie,
the act of masturbation was only connected to boys and as a situation where it is
normal for boys to act that way.

All these indicators all play into a specific risky situation that has to due with

medias influence, teen pregnancy. The rate of teen pregnancy in the United States is

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Teen Pregnancy and the Media Paper

the highest in the world and is still nearly double of the rates in Canada and Great
Britain and is about four times the rates of France and Sweden (Hust Ph.D., S.,
Brown Ph. D., J., & Ladin L'Engle Ph. D., K., p. 4, 2008). The United States is so heavily
influenced by the media and it controls so many aspects of the country. That could
have to do with why the United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the
country. A study was done of 75 pregnant and non-pregnant adolescent girls, in
which the pregnant girls were the ones who watched more soap operas before
becoming pregnant and were less likely to think that their favorite soap opera
characters would use birth control (Strasburger, MD, V., p. 68, 2004). There was also
a study done through a college about how college students who view soap operas
more often were more likely than those who watched less often to believe that
single parenting was relatively easy (Hust Ph.D., S., Brown Ph. D., J., & Ladin L'Engle
Ph. D., K., p. 16, 2008). Teen pregnancy is also considered a girls problem in the
U.S., and girls are portrayed through the media as being solely responsible for their
children and that there will most likely be the absence of the father (Hust Ph.D., S.,
Brown Ph. D., J., & Ladin L'Engle Ph. D., K., p. 16, 2008). Also, that girls are
responsible for preventing STDs as well as pregnancy. It is portrayed through the
media that even if you get pregnant as a teen and the father of the children is absent
at first, they will always come back and the family will live happily ever after, when
in reality that will not always happen. And the absentness of a parent can happen on
either end, the mother can be absent and so could the father or both parents may be
involved, it is not always going to be one or the other, but that is how the media
shows it. For an example of this, it is shown in an episode of Friends where one of

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Teen Pregnancy and the Media Paper

the characters has an unplanned pregnancy and struggles for how and when to tell
the father, and thought about all the difficulties of being a single mother. Even
though she was not in a relationship with the father and struggled at first, he still
does help raise the baby and put effort towards wanting to be apart of the family.
This fictitious depiction of an unmarried, pregnant woman suggests that despite
struggles and inconsistency, the babys father ultimately will attempt to be a part of
the family (Hust Ph.D., S., Brown Ph. D., J., & Ladin L'Engle Ph. D., K., p. 16, 2008).
According to the journal Boys Will Be Boys and Girls Better Be Prepared: An
Analysis of the Rare Sexual Health Messages in Young Adolescents Media, in real
life, single motherhood is the more probable outcome, but it may be difficult for
young people to figure out which scenario is more realistic based off of what they
are shown in the media (Hust Ph.D., S., Brown Ph. D., J., & Ladin L'Engle Ph. D., K., p.
16, 2008). These examples that are being shown by the media are causing issues for
the present population and for the future as well.

Since the media does have such a huge impact on all generations, but mainly

the younger generations at this time, there must be a way to make the information
and examples given out more educational and realistic. The people who are
watching, listening, and reading so much of media are the ones who are being
impacted by it. Without finding a way to better the media and all the information
given out by it, than these issues will continue to increase as problems. It will be a
continued downward spiral and our young generations will continue to suffer from
it.

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Teen Pregnancy and the Media Paper

Works Cited:

Brown Ph. D., J., & Witherspoon Ph. D., E. (2002). The Mass Media and American

Adolescents' Health. Journal of Adolescent Health, P. 153, 157.

Hust Ph.D., S., Brown Ph. D., J., & Ladin L'Engle Ph. D., K. (2008). Boys Will Be Boys and Girls

Better Be Prepared: An Analysis of the Rare Sexual Health Messages in Young

Adolescents' Media (p. P. 4, 5, 15, 16). Mass Communication & Society Division.

Strasburger, MD, V. (2004). Children, Adolescents, and the Media. P. 68, 69.