Albert Bandura's Influences Teen Pregnancy

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Most teenagers do not plan to get pregnant, but many do. Teen pregnancies carry extra health risks to both the mother and the baby. One reason teens end up pregnant at such a young age is because they never had “the talk.” When parents do not begin to stress the consequences of not using a condom to their child they increase the risk of that child being reckless. Another influence of teen pregnancy is the impact of exposure to sexual content on the behaviors of adolescents. Albert Bandura’s social learning theory incorporates the dominance of media in relation to its impact on societal behaviors. Bandura’s social learning theory emphasizes the environmental impact television images have on both the mental and behavioral processes of viewers. It is not a secret that sex sells and for some reason, young sex sells even more. Teens respond to media content and in today’s world it is uncommon for a show to not have sexual content. How that content is received depends entirely on the viewer, but how the content is presented depends on what will sell. The media influences teen pregnancy by glamourizing sex, showing the pros and cons of pregnancy and by making young mothers into celebrities.
With the large amount of sexual content on television, teenagers are shown sexuality in varying situations. Less research has been done on how teens interpret these messages and how it helps shape their view of norm sexual behaviors. While depictions of teens having multiple sexual partners on shows such as 90210, Glee and The Secret Life of an American Teenager may not influence a specific teenager to act accordingly, it could promote an ideal that highlights promiscuousness as the norm. Juno was a popular film where the main character gets pregnan...

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...ith two children. No one helped my mom; she did everything on her own and without a television show. The media does not show the hard work and motivation of some teen mothers, but seem to love putting crazy people on television and paying them to do so. I think that the media influences teens behavior and thoughts about teen pregnancy to the point that they are not aware of the consequences. The popular books amongst teens do not touch on the topic of sex. Books like Twilight encourage teens to wait until marriage for sex, but the main characters are in an unhealthy relationship. The Harry Potter series never touches on the topic and just implies that hand holding is the only thing that should be happening before marriage. Where the teaching starts is at home. Parents need to help educate their kids about sex because, “…kids get bored and have intercourse.” – Juno.

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