NPR's "Weekend Edition" on Saturday explored the possible effects of televised sexual content on adolescents. Reporter Joseph Shapiro listened and watched behind one-way mirrors during four separate focus groups assembled by the Kaiser Family Foundation in which boys and girls ages 12 to 15 watched television shows and music videos with sexual content. According to Shapiro, the average American teenager watches more than three hours of television each day, but researchers "can't answer" the question of whether children who watch more television are more likely to have sex. While hundreds of studies have illustrated the impact of televised violence on children, only a "handful" have looked at the effects of sexual content. Jane Brown, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has received an NIH grant to study the effect on teens of sexual content in the media, said, "[T]he more you see the same thing over and over again, the more likely you are to believe that this is how the world works." According to Brown, who was invited to watch tapes of the KFF focus groups, children need help "interpreting" the sexual content they see on television. According to Shapiro, 33% of teenagers surveyed in a recent KFF/U.S. News & World Report poll said that they have spoken with their parents about sex after viewing a television program with sexual content. Further, 50% of teens say they "rarely or never" speak to their parents about sex, according to the poll (Shapiro, "Weekend Edition," NPR, 6/22). The report is available in RealPlayer audio online. NPR's "Talk of the Nation" today will also feature a report on how parents can talk to teens about the sexual images they see in the media and help them make decisions about sex. An audio report of this program will be available online today after 6 p.m. ET.