If you want your teens to have a happy social life, DON’T let them watch wrestling on TV?especially if they are GIRLS. A new study shows that the frequency of adolescents viewing wrestling on TV is positively associated with date fighting and other violent behaviors. According to Nielsen ratings, wrestling is one of the top 10 cable TV programs.
Researcher Robert H. DuRant, who did the study, says, “This study…shows that exposure to this type of violence on television during this crucial period of time [in a teen’s development] can affect adolescents in a negative way.”
He discovered that the frequency of watching wrestling was highest among students who later engaged in date fighting after drinking alcohol or using drugs. The results of this study may also indicate that the violent lyrics of rap music and the violence in the most popular video games may be affecting teens negatively as well. When teens in inner city neighborhoods that are already filled with violence indulge in these pastimes, the results may be even worse. “The bottom line is that adolescents are affected by what they are exposed to,” DuRant says, and adds, “One of the more interesting things we learned while completing this research was that the relationship between watching wrestling on television and being the perpetrator of dating violence was stronger among females.”
Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
In his new journal, Whitley writes about his new novel The Grays: “I’d like to discuss some of the different types of visitor who appear in the book, and why they are there. I have written about the kinds that I know and the experiences involving them that I’ve had. I have not written about any forms that I have not personally encountered and?this will surprise you when you read the book?I have not invented any of the different types of communication that are part of the story, or the way the mind changes as contact deepens.” For people who have had personal visitor experiences, he says: “The book is designed to reconstruct associations that have been broken by fear and by the action of the visitors. While reading and living the emotional journey of the characters, it is my hope that you will discover hidden parts of your own journey that have the same flavor.” (Note: The Communion Letters is one of the books that is now part of our big summer sale!) You can LISTEN FREE to Chapters One and Two of The Grays by clicking “Listen Now” on our masthead. People magazine calls it a “great read” and describes the book this way: “One government faction believes aliens are trying to save us; another thinks they want to conquer in this truly spooky sic-fi tale from the author of Communion.”
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