Adult men fathered over 50% of babies born to young women ages 15-19.

Sexuality and the Media: An Introduction for Parents

For many parents and caregivers, the idea of trying to monitor their child’s use of media is overwhelming. Trying to keep an eye on everything the average child reads, hears, sees or interacts with on a daily basis would be a full-time job for any parent, to say the least. This section gives parents and caregivers insight into the changing trends in media use among young people and offers some suggestions on how to talk to young people about messages they receive daily.

What do we mean by “media”?

Before we take a look at media trends among young people, it’s important that we understand what is meant by the word “media.” For many people, “media” is television programming or newspaper articles. Media actually encompasses these and many other forms of communication and information transmission devices. For the purposes of this section, media includes

• Television programming,
• Video games and computer games,
• Movies/videos/DVDs,
• Music in various forms (mp3s, compact discs, radio/satellite programming, cassettes, etc),
• Print media such as newspapers and magazines,
• The Internet as a source of content-based information,
• And the Internet as a facilitator of interactive electronic communication, such as social networking websites, blogging, instant messaging, text messaging, chat rooms/message boards and email.