Parents and sociologists who have speculated that sex on television may encourage teen promiscuity now have a newly released study to back them up. Watching sexual content on TV increases teen pregnancy, according to researchers at the Rand Corporation.

Lead researcher Anita Chandra followed 1461 teens ages 12 to 17 from 2001 to 2004. Those who watched high levels of sexual content on TV were twice as likely to be pregnant before age 20. Time writes:

Yet it’s not likely, nor realistic, to expect the television and movie industries to curb the amount of sexual content in their products. That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics created the Media Matters campaign more than a decade ago, to not only promote awareness within the industry of how influential their TV shows and movies are to youngsters, but also to alert parents to the critical role they play in monitoring and mediating what their children watch.

And the researchers did this work before the proliferation of TV on the internet, which allows teens even easier access to sex-saturated media. Media isn’t cutting back on sex-saturation. Even commercials are getting more overtly sexual. I remember going to an innocent movie this summer and seeing ads for Levi before the flick that made me blush.