A recently completed study by the Rand Corporation found a connection between teen pregnancy and watching TV.  Teens who viewed television with sexual content were more likely to get pregnant, even when other variables were controlled.  The study:

• tested the cross-sectional and prospective relationships between exposure to various kinds of televised sexual content and sexual knowledge, expectancies, perceived norms, and behavior among adolescents;
• tested whether relationships between sexual content on television and the sexual beliefs and behavior of adolescents vary according to viewers’ gender, age, race/ethnicity and sexual experience;
• identified the process(es) through which television depictions of sex may influence sexual behavior–specifically, whether knowledge, expectancies, self-efficacy, and perceived norms mediate any relationship between media exposure and behavior.

The continuing study is now examining whether viewing sexual content on television is also associated with unprotected sexual activity, infection with sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancy, and poorer quality romantic and sexual relationships in young adulthood.