Anita Chandra , a desi (?) researcher at RAND, has found that U.S. teens watching television programs with more sexual content are more likely to be involved in a pregnancy.

According to the study, published in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics, adolescents who have high levels of exposure to television programs that contain sexual content are twice as likely to be involved in a pregnancy over the following three years as their peers who watch few such shows.

According to Anita Chandra, the study’s lead author and a behavioral scientist at RAND: 

Adolescents receive a considerable amount of information about sex through television and that programming typically does not highlight the risks and responsibilities of sex. Our findings suggest that television may play a significant role in the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the United States.

Apparently, this is the first study to establish a link between teenagers’ exposure to sexual content on TV and either pregnancies among girls or responsibility for pregnancies among boys. 

The RAND researchers say that exposure to sex on TV may influence teen pregnancy by creating the perception that there is little risk to engaging in sex without using contraceptives and accelerating the initiation of sexual intercourse.

This is what Chandra has to say:

The amount of sexual content on television has doubled in recent years, and there is little representation of safer sex practices in those portrayals. While some progress has been made, teenagers who watch television are still going to find little information about the consequences of unprotected sexual practices among the many portrayals promoting sex.

American teens have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates among industrialized nations.

The folks at RAND say that a million teenagers become pregnant each year, the majority of them accidental. 

Calling all Patels, Shahs, Singhs, Raos and Reddys in America – Do you know what TV programs your teenagers are watching or will you wait until you see your beti’s (daughter) swollen belly?