For each increase in the number of times teenagers watched pro wrestling, their odds of having hurt someone with a weapon increased 19 percent. The risk of having sex without birth control climbed 13 percent, and the odds of having fought with a girlfriend or boyfriend increased 16 percent.
While it's not clear that watching TV wrestling contributed to these problems, the findings support the general idea that children's exposure to media violence should be limited, according to the researchers.
Wolfson recommended that parents try to limit the amount of time their children devote to TV, movies and computers, as well as monitor what they are watching whenever possible. When children do see media violence, he noted, parents should try to discuss it with them "to clarify the family's and the child's values."
SOURCE: Southern Medical Journal, February 2008.
