Porn a major presence in lives of youth

EDMONTON, Alberta, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- One-third of boys ages 13 and 14 surveyed say they viewed pornographic materials "too many times to count," a Canadian study found.

Eight percent of the girls, who were surveyed anonymously, said they viewed pornographic sexually explicit media content on digital or satellite television, video and DVD and the Internet too many times to count, according to the survey of 429 students from 17 urban and rural schools across the province of Alberta.

Ninety percent of males and 70 percent of females reported accessing sexually explicit media content at least once, said study author Sonya Thompson, a graduate student at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Seventy-four percent reported viewing pornography on the Internet, while 41 percent saw it on video or DVD, 57 percent reported seeing it on a specialty TV channel, and 20 percent viewed it at a friend's house.

Though being curious about sexually explicit media may seem a "natural" part of early adolescence, porn is a major presence in the lives of youth, according to Thompson.