SOME FACTS ABOUT THE SURVEY:

Why is this study being done?

We are surveying adolescents and their parents to understand how TV might influence their understanding of sexual activity and risk. The overall goal is to better understand what part the media play in forming beliefs about sex, what young people think about sex, and why some engage in sexual activities and why others do not. With this knowledge, we will be better prepared to design programs that help to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted teenage pregnancies.

Who is conducting the study?

The Center for Adolescent and Child Health Research (http://www.pire.org/PRC/cachr/) is responsible for the overall design and direction of this study. This Center is a part of the Prevention Research Center (PRC) of Berkeley. PRC is one of fifteen national research centers that are dedicated to the prevention and reduction of social problems. We are working in collaboration with California State University at Fullerton. Funding is provided through the United States National Institutes of Health, a federally funded organization. Joel W. Grube, Ph.D., is the PRC staff member directing the study.

How will my teenager benefit?

Your teenager will be paid $20 for his/her time and he/she will have the satisfaction of helping scientists learn more about a serious social problem, which affects us all. It is a chance for your child to provide important information that could benefit society.

Will anyone find out what my teenager said?

The survey is conducted in private. The questions will be asked and answered on a laptop computer. Neither your name, your teenager's name, nor any other identifying information will be on the questionnaires. All reports and published articles that come out of the study will include only summaries and averages of teenagers' answers. No one reading the reports or summaries will be able to tell who was in the survey or who said what. A Certificate of Confidentiality has been issued by the National Institutes of Health to protect the privacy of subjects in this research project against compulsory legal demands that seek the names or other identifying characteristics of research subjects.

How was my teenager selected?

We are contacting a large number of households, some of which will have eligible children while others will not. All 11 - 16 year-old children in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Los Angeles area have an equal chance of being chosen. It is important that we include as many of the selected young people as possible, otherwise we would not have a true picture of Bay Area and Los Angeles youth. Altogether we expect about 1000 young people to participate.

Why my teenager? He/she is not engaging in sexual activities.

In order to get a balanced perspective of young people, it's important to survey a wide range of teens. We need to include teenagers who are sexually experienced as well as those who are not. Your teenager is important to this study whether he or she is sexually active or not.

What's involved?

The study will involve a private self-administered questionnaire completed in your home by your child. It should take somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes to complete, depending on your child's answers. To ensure confidentiality, the survey questions will be presented on a laptop computer and the computer will record how he or she answers. The survey facilitator will not see your child's answers. In addition, one parent will be asked to fill out a paper and pencil questionnaire.

We will want your child to complete a similar survey again in about a year and two years from now. Your child also will be asked to complete a short mail-in survey before then. But cooperating this time will not obligate your child to participate in the future should either of you change your mind.

What kinds of questions will be asked?

We are asking about a wide range of topics including television viewing, sexual beliefs and behaviors, substance use behaviors, and family communication. Other questions will ask about general background information. The computerized survey has been designed to automatically bypass questions that are inappropriate for a given young person's age and/or experience. Your child also will be shown some brief clips taped from television programming and asked to give opinions about them. None of the clips will contain sexual material. The parent questionnaire will ask about parental communication and parenting style. Our eventual goal is to learn what factors are important in determining why some young people become sexually active and how to prevent problems associated with teenage sexuality.

Does my teenager have to take part in the study?

No. While it's important that as many young people in our sample as possible take part, your teenager's participation is entirely voluntary. In addition, on the day of the survey, teenagers will be told that if they find there are some questions they don't want to answer they may simply skip them and move on or end the survey at any time. In some of our past studies, teenagers who participated in the study remarked that they enjoyed completing the questionnaire, and felt postive about sharing their thoughts and opinions.

Suppose I have other questions that aren't answered here?

If you have questions, please call Dr. Samantha Walker of Prevention Research Center, toll-free at 1-877-836-6162.