Abstract:
This article sought to investigate the influence of satellite television movies on adolescent's sexual behavior. This motivated the researchers to conduct a study exploring impacts and extent of television movies on teenagers aged between 13 and 17. Extracting information required questionnaires formatted in a manner that would provide description of circumstances, accord the interviewee the opportunity to explain and volunteer background information on the behavior pattern. To ensure the collection of quality data, the researchers employed face to face interviews to assist the interviewees provide the correct information and explanation required. The research lasted three months and took place in Harare and strictly targeting secondary school students.
The results of the study showed that most adolescents were heavily exposed to television movies of sexual nature; aimed for people aged above 18 years. Key findings of the study showed that students exposed to heavy viewing of sexual-inclined movies tend to lose focus on their education and become addicted to following the new movies on the market. They easily remember the titles of the movies, the story-lines and the actors. Some students indicated they felt their favourite actors were their role models while others said they did not envisage any harm in watching explicitly sexual movies because of their capacity to know what is right and wrong; and ability to only choose the good they can benefit from the movies.
Most parents were concerned about their children adopting alien cultures that might cause them to indulge in sex and bad behavior. However some felt a lot of good can also come from the movies if viewing is properly managed. A significant number of parents indicated they noticed with concern certain behavioural traits, which included use of foul language, drinking and smoking, ignoring their parent's rules and suspected that their children were having relationships and could be having sex. |
