The Effects of Films on Teenagers

Drugs and Alcohol

• More than 90 percent of contemporary films show the consumption of alcohol, including 38 of the top 40 grossing films of 2005, according to "Pediatrics" article. Teenagers who view three R-rated films per month are five times more likely to begin drinking at a young age because of what they see in these movies. An additional 22 percent of movies feature at least one scene with illegal drugs. Teens that watch R-rated movies are six times more likely to try marijuana than teens that do not watch these films.

Violence

• Approximately 66 percent of the movies released in 2001 were R-rated films. This is an issue because 80 percent of these films were marketed toward children younger than 17, despite their graphic content, reports the Media Education Foundation. In more than 30 percent of cases, the individual who committed a violent act was not punished and did not show any remorse 70 percent of the time, according to the University of Pittsburgh. Overall, this leads to a lack of understanding about the consequences of violence in the real world, which could lead to more acts that are violent from teens that watch this type of programming.

Sex

• Sexual content in film has an influence on the behavior of teens -- kids between the ages of 12 and 14 who watched sexually explicit movies are more likely to have sex at a young age and have more sexual partners, while being less likely to use condoms, than their peers that did not watch these films. The Association for Psychological Science reports that 84 percent of the top-grossing movies between 1950 and 2006 had sexual content, including 68 percent of G-rated films and 82 percent of PG-rated movies.

Smoking

• Exposure to tobacco use is common in films as 25 percent of the ads for R-rated movies and 90 percent of the actual R-rated movies feature smoking, according to the "Pediatrics" article. Exposure to these films doubles the chances that a teen will smoke, reports "Pediatrics," which makes it a greater cause of teen smoking than parents regularly using tobacco around their children.

Positives

• Films can have a positive effect on teens if the subject matter is handled in the proper way. An article in the summer edition of the "New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development" journal reports that entertainment media can be used to educate teens on sexual health issues and can promote healthy social behavior. In addition, Common Sense Media suggests that movies are more diverse than ever before, which allows teens of all races and sexual orientations to identify with film characters.