There is not much research done on US television's portrayal of sex and its relation to teenage attitudes and sex behavior. What has been done is on marital fidelity, gender roles, and rape myths. Sexuality taboos have created research problems. Future research should include longitudinal studies. These should use sex behavior as a dependent variable and focus on correlational and causal questions. Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans should be included in future research. Research should address the decision-making process within the television industry. A "consortium" of researchers from different disciplines should be used. Health professionals and the television industry should talk. Key people in professional organizations should have this dialog with the television industry. Press releases should be sent to key industry publications. The study group recommends a 6-12 month "sabbatical" wherein television and health professionals could work in each others' settings. There is a restriction on the advertising of contraceptive in the networks. Condoms can be promoted for disease protection, but not for birth control. Prescription products can't be advertised. Generic contraceptive advertisement should be created. Products could be advertised in magazines, too. Guidelines should be set up for television advertising. It is not possible to predict which hours adolescents will be watching television anymore. Critical viewing skills should be taught in "media literacy" curricula for "early and middle" adolescents.
Obesity, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, dietary excesses and deficiencies, iron deficiency, and dental caries have been identified as the major nutrition-related problems affecting youth in the United States. Of particular interest currently are the potential effects of dietary patterns established during childhood and adolescence on the later development of heart disease, hypertension, cancer, and osteoporosis. Concern has been raised regarding the impact television advertising and programming has on the nutritional health of youth. In children, excessive television viewing has been linked to obesity, increased between-meal snacking, consumption of low nutrient-dense foods and attempts by children to influence their parents’ food purchases (l-4). Research Directions There exists no published research on the influence that food advertising and food programming may have on adolescent food preferences, eating habits, food purchasing practices, or body satisfaction. Research has centered primarily on young children; specifically, food advertising on Saturday mornings (l-3). For young children, the time spent viewing television is directly linked to consumption of foods advertised on television, as well as influencing parent purchases of these foods in the supermarket (4). These, as well as other aspects, need to be examined with respect to adolescents.
Six varsity high school football teams were assessed by confidential questionnaire regarding anabolic steroids, before and 2 weeks after an education intervention. The education program used the American College of Sports Medicine's position on the “use of anabolic androgenic steroids in sports.” Two teams received a lecture and a four-page handout, two teams were given the handout only, and two teams were controls. Self-report of current use was 1.1% but 38.8% claimed availability of these agents. Although increased awareness of the adverse effects of anabolic steroid was found after the education program, no differences in attitudes toward the use of anabolic steroids occurred as compared to controls. Strategies designed to dissuade adolescent athletes from considering these drugs need to be developed.
