You know, Yuri Andropov loved to watch wrestling between torture sessions at the Lubyanka...

AP: Teens who watched wrestling more violent on dates

RALEIGH, N.C. - Teenagers who watched pro wrestling on TV were more likely to behave violently than other kids, researchers reported Monday, and girls seemed to be more influenced than boys.

Those findings were part of a study suggesting that teenagers who watched wrestling shows like "RAW" and "SmackDown" had a tendency toward violence, including carrying weapons and fighting on dates.

There! Right there! That's how you know this is nonsense. Kids who watch wrestling don't get dates!

The researchers also found that students who were most likely to fight on dates after they had been drinking or using drugs were the ones who watched wrestling most often.

"It's yet more evidence that, when it comes to kids and media, learning happens," said Kimberly Thompson, a professor at Harvard University's School of Public Health. "Parents have to pay attention to what's in their kids' media diet, and what they're seeing and experiencing."

The study, based on data collected seven years ago, was published Monday in the August issue of Pediatrics. A team led by Robert H. DuRant, a professor of pediatrics, social science and health policy at Wake Forest's Baptist Medical Center, surveyed about 2,000 students in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County public high schools in the fall of 1999 and again in April 2000. Just over half the group was male.

"Is this data dated? The answer is no," DuRant said. "If you look at the Nielsen ratings (for wresting) on cable TV, over the years, they have not changed."

Questions included whether the students had recently fought with a boyfriend, girlfriend or date; whether they had been drinking or using drugs before a fight; and whether they had watched professional wrestling on television in the two weeks before each round of the survey.

Due to time constraints, we now move to further action.

Both DuRant and Thompson, who was not involved in the study, said the research should serve as a warning to parents. While parents can identify wrestling broadcasts as entertainment, children are less likely to place the shows in that context.

"This teaches an adolescent that it is OK to use violence to resolve conflicts and that women deserve abusive treatment," DuRant said.
"(Parents) don't put it together that it could be having a negative effect on kids who are right in the middle of putting together attitudes about norms and proper behavior."

Please. If your child doesn't know smacking someone on the head with a folding chair long before "adolescence" (the most political of life stages) is wrong, it is too late.

That's an idea rejected by Gary Davis, a spokesman for World Wrestling Entertainment.

"In contrast to the findings of this flawed study, many of our fans attest that watching World Wrestling Entertainment programming has been a positive experience for them and their children," Davis said. "More than half of these parents consider watching our programs with their children as important family time."

I wouldn't go that far.

Let's give the comically-named DuRant the penultimate rant:

"The bottom line is that adolescents are affected by what they are exposed to," he said. "This study shows that the incidence of date fighting and other violence increases when the exposure to violence increases."

I'll make you a deal, Doc. I'll agree to ban the fake violence of pro wrestling if you'll agree to ban the very real violence of abortion. After all, the very definition of "adolescence" seems to be sex at any cost.