Children exposed to sex scenes in movies ‘will be more promiscuous and have more sexual partners’

Daily Mail:

Watching sex scenes in movies can make children more sexually active from a younger age, research suggests.

Whether it’s Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet making love on the Titanic or Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart cuddling in bed on their vampire honeymoon in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, teenagers watching sex scenes have an increased curiosity for sex.

Watching sex on screen could lead to teenagers having more sex with more partners and without using condoms, researcher Ross O’Hara from the University of Missouri said.

The scenes can ‘fundamentally influence a teenager’s personality’ and make them more prone to take risks he said.

Dr O’Hara 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.

While there’s been much research into the influence of drinking and smoking in movies, sex scenes has been overlooked.

Dr O’Hara said: ‘Much research has shown that adolescents’ sexual attitudes and behaviours are influenced by media.

‘But the role of movies has been somewhat neglected, despite other findings that movies are more influential than TV or music.’

Psychologists studied children aged 12 to 14 and then reviewed their sexual behaviour six years on.

The research, published in Psychological Science, followed 1,228 children over the six year period.

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