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boob tube , motion-picture show and television game aimed at kids and teens get lots of tending for their portrayals of violence and sex . But a newfangled study find that popular teen books , too , can be surprisingly sexual , think of that reading may not always be the wholesome activity that parents expect .
In fact , researchers reported online June 8 in the Journal of Sex Research , books aimed at 12- and 13 - year - olds wereno less sexythan books aimed at readers ages 14 and up . In addition , sex was rarely presented in a healthy light : preventive and hard-nosed consequences were almost never mention , said study investigator Sarah Coyne , a psychologist at Brigham Young University . ( Brigham Young University is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints and is the largest spiritual university in the United States . )
Rumors have flown about how the young adult novel “Breaking Dawn” (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2008) will translate to the big screen. The book, part of the popular “Twilight” series, includes references to rough sex and bloody supernatural childbirth.
" I would never indicate for censorship , " Coyne told LiveScience . " But I do guess we ’re missing something here . "
The " Gossip Girl " books and a vampire al-Qur’an , " choose , " part of the " House of Night " serial , were in particular focalise on sex , Coyne order .
teen & books
Electronic media consumption remove up a big chunk of minor ' and teens ' life . A 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation study found that , by multitasking , 8- to 18 - year - old really get by to gouge almost 11 hour deserving of medium use into 7.5 hour a daylight .
But kids still translate , too . The same survey discover that , on mediocre , this age group spend 25 minute a dayreading books for pleasure . And researchers say there ’s no understanding to think that the subject matter in books do n’t sink in .
" teenage readers are probable to be very tangled or engaged or what we call ' send ' by the narrative , " said Jane Brown , a professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of North Carolina . Brown , who was not involved in the current study , said that tweens and teens often key out strongly with book characters — take , for instance , the kidskin who dressed as wizards to camp out for " Harry Potter " book releases .
" When that happens , what we cognise from other research is that [ kids ] are more likely to take the account and find it persuasive , " Brown told LiveScience . " So we would expect that a stripling lector who is channel by the narrative would be more likely toengage in the kind of behaviorshe is read about . "
Several long - terminus studies have found that child exposed to more intimate media early in life go on to hire inearlier sexual behaviorthan their peers , Brown said . ( Other view and laboratory studies turn up similar results . ) Some questions still continue about whether the sexy media make the behavior or whether kid who are precociously interested in sexual urge seek out sexier books and movies .
Reader discretion advised
Coyne and her co-worker culled the top 40 books for tweens and teens from a 2008 list of best - marketer published by The New York Times . About one-half of the record were pitch toward kids historic period 9 to 11 , 33 percent were purpose for 12- and 13 - year - old , and the sleep were for child eld 14 and up .
Many of the rule book the researchers examined were destitute of age - incompatible intimate content , Coyne said . The " Harry Potter " ledger , for example , are fairly destitute of sexual urge . Of the 55 per centum of book that did have intimate content , Coyne estimated that only a half - dozen or so had explicit or unquestioning reference to sexual intercourse .
" A lot of the leger were just great , " Coyne said . " But other books had quite a second , somequite graphic intimate content . Some that I was actually really surprised that it was aimed at an adolescent audience . "
Like TV and movies , books seldom dealt with what Brown calls the " three Cs : " contraceptives , consequence and commitment . About a third of the 56 incidences of sexual copulation in the books deal billet between people not in relationship , Coyne find . And birth control was only mentioned four times . [ The History & Future of Birth Control ]
" Probably the books that are say to be for 12- to 13 - year - olds are being scan by about 10- to 11 - class - olds , " Brown said . " And you may not require them reading about sexual sexual congress , at least not how it ’s being depicted . "
The goal is not to censor leger or discourage reading , Coyne enjoin . However , she said , parents should be cognisant that you ca n’t always judge a teen Good Book by its cover . In some cases , she said , the content of a Good Book aim at a 12 - year - old would earn it an R rating if it were a movie .
" What I would lie with is more data on the back of the al-Qur’an about its substance , " Coyne said . " That just empower parents . "
