One of the researchers said the data suggests that it's the R-rated movies themselves that lead kids to drink: "seeing the adult content, which includes smoking, drinking, sex, etc., actually changes their personality."
What it says to me is that, for better or worse, kids with more lenient parents end up drinking sooner than kids with more strict parents. But I wonder about those kids who aren't actually allowed to watch R-rated movies, but can figure out how to watch them anyway. Which are probably kids from ages 10-14, especially the ones with HBO, Star movies and the likes. Do they get into even worse stuff than the kids whose parents let them watch some R-rated movies and maybe let them have a little alchohol at special events? What are those sly kids doing by the time they get to 9th grade? Snorting drugs and watching porn films?
Using myself as an example, I thought back to the first R-rated movie I ever saw. My first experiences were all horror movies because my older cousins tend to like the thrill of watching horror films even though we were not allowed to. I watched Final Destination at age 9 with my cousins at their house. Their ages at that time ranges from 9 to 13. None of our parents knew their kids were watching it. It was a pretty scary and a one of-a-kind viewing experience (as I thought at that time), considering I was in a roomful of preteens at their house watching a movie about teens getting killed in a theme park. I ended up stunned at what I have seen in that time because I was a fan of theme parks when I was young. But after seeing that movie, I had a different perception on theme parks.
Then after that, my cousins and I dared each other to watch another one- which was The Ring. At that time I think I was already 11 years old. The movie was even scarier than the first horror movie I ever watched and it made me cry while watching the movie! First, theme parks were taken from me because of the story of final destination, and then now, I cannot watch television because someone might pop out of it?! At that time, I regretted watching those because I cannot go back to my usual happy life wherein I watch TV all day and go to theme parks and enjoy my time there.
Even though my parents didn't actually give me permission to watch any of these movies, they definitely let me drink a little bit at family reunions since my relatives always hires a bartender whenever we have a reunion. My relatives are fond of drinking so they give me “juice” which apparently, has been spiked by either vodka or rum. Of course, my family was not able to forbid me to drink it because they respect their elders. I wonder what happens to kids who watch higher quality R-rated movies than I saw? If they watch, for example, American pie will they really go drinking at a young age or even have sex before marriage? Is it really possible for media (movies) to corrupt a child’s mind?
What was your first R-rated movie? Did it corrupt you?
