How TV shows like 'Empire', 'Sex Education' and '13 Reasons Why' could be encouraging teenagers to drink, smoke and have sex: Study finds shows with a heady combination of risky behaviours affect young people Around 300 young people, aged 14 to 17, were asked to view 1 of 4 types of clip The depicted scenes of risky behaviour, combined risks, or no risky behaviour Experts found single risks like drinking led to no noticeable results in the group Combined risks, such as drinking and sex, influenced teenagers perceptions By Victoria Bell and Tim Collins For Mailonline Published: 16:51 BST, 16 April 2019 | Updated: 18:07 BST, 16 April 2019 91 Viewcomments Watching TV shows like Empire, Sex Education and 13 Reasons Why could be encouraging teenagers to drink alcohol, have sex and smoke. Youngsters exposed to combinations of 'risky' behaviour in the media that they watch are more likely to engage in similar behaviour themselves, researchers say. Experts asked teenagers to watch four categories of clips from the TV show Empire to make their findings. The team of scientists found that scenes only depicting one risky behaviour, such as sex on its own, were not enough to influence the attitudes of young people. Combinations of a number of risky behaviours, however, were found to lead to teenagers viewing them more positively. While the findings were made using Empire as a template, they can be applied to any number of shows that are popular with teens. Scroll down for video Teen TV shows like Sex Education (pictured) and 13 Reasons Why are exposing young people to a heady combination of alcohol, sex and smoking that's difficult to resist. That's the finding of a team of scientists who looked at the effects portrays of 'risky' behaviours in the media Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania came to their conclusion by asking more than 300 young people, aged 14 to 17, to view one of four categories of video clips from TV program Empire. They found that exposure to alcohol and sex in the media in general resulted in more glamorised and positive perceptions of drinking, sex and smoking. Exposure to the sex only, alcohol only, and no risk videos did not influence any attitudes or norms. They made the findings by and say the findings apply to any show with these four themes in - such as Netflix's 'Sex Education' and '13 Reasons Why'. These clips combined alcohol and sex and than a more risk-taking behaviour, smoking, alone. They were also shown scenes with sex only, alcohol only, and no risk. While sex and alcohol combined increased favourable attitudes towards this onscreen behaviour, clips depicting sex only or alcohol only did not influence the adolescent perceptions. Writing in the paper, it's authors said: 'The purpose of this study was to determine whether media effects associated with exposure to multiple risk behaviours in television content have specific or more general effects on attitudes and norms associated with performing these behaviours. Experts discovered that scenes depicting one risky behaviour, such as drinking in 13 Reasons (pictured), were not enough to encourage teenagers to adopt the habit. Combinations of a number of risky behaviours, were found to lead to teenagers viewing them more positively 'We tested the content effects on behavioural attitudes and norms for performing each of the behaviours. 'A brief exposure to combined risk behaviours in media may increase positive attitudes related to the combination behaviour (alcohol and sex), a component behaviour (alcohol), and also more general (smoking). 'A brief exposure to combined risk behaviours in media may increase positive attitudes related to the combination behaviour (alcohol and sex), a component behaviour (alcohol), and also more general risk-taking behaviours.' Previous research has found that the average age a person first tries alcohol is now 13. The full findings of the study were published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION REPORT LINKS ALCOHOL TO ABUSE A World Health Organization (WHO) report found excessive drinking is associated with an increase in domestic abuse, particularly men towards women. The abuse can be physical, such as beating; psychological, like constant belittling; forced sexual intercourse; or controlling behaviour, such as isolating a person from their loved ones. According to the WHO, this abuse may be caused by the belief that alcohol causes violent behaviour and therefore drunk people use this as an excuse. In Australia, restricting the hours alcohol was in sale in one town reduced the number of booze-related domestic violence cases that ended up in hospital. A coupon-based alcohol rationing system in Greenland in the 1980s, which entitled adults to 72-beers worth of booze a month, led to a 58 per cent reduction in police call outs for domestic abuse. Those in problem relationships may drink to help themselves cope, however, this combined with pre-existing issues may cause abusive behaviour, the report states. While abuse can cause physical injury, including miscarriages in pregnant women, it is also linked to emotional problems like suicidal thoughts and depression. The WHO believes reducing social tolerance towards excessive drinking, along with the expectation of men to act masculine, may help to combat abuse. 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