Andrea: Time for Love
Sexual Responsibility on Prime-Time Television

Project Dates: 1998

• Overview
• Objectives
• Impact

Overview

Andrea is a five-episode television mini-series broadcast in Peru in 1998. The story follows two young couples as they deal with the turbulence of their teen years, including romantic relationships and parental strife.

Andrea and Renzo epitomize the ideal adolescent romantic relationship. Andrea is a sweet and beautiful young woman who is confident about her goals--she knows what she wants out of life. She studies Hotel Administration and works part-time to help pay for her studies. Her boyfriend, Renzo, loves cars and wants to study Engineering in the United States. When Andrea and Renzo meet, they fall passionately in love. The two know how to talk and listen to one another. Despite their parent's opposition to the relationship, Renzo and Andrea decide to date.

Lily and Daniel, on the other hand, have more conflictive relationship. They are both university students and cannot really accept that they were not meant to be together. Lily is more conscious of this, but at the same time feels she is very much in love with Daniel. The most notorious point of conflict for the couple comes when Daniel begins to pressure Lily into having sex. Lily is not sure the she is ready, but Daniel insists, constantly manipulating her. Lily resists Daniel's pressure, well aware that there is no trust or harmony in their relationship. However, she does not know how to leave Daniel.

Lily and Andrea are life-long best friends. They know everything about each other and Andrea confesses to Lily that she is pregnant. Meanwhile, Lily reveals to Andrea that Daniel has given her an ultimatum: either have sex with him or he leaves Lily. At this point, the lives of the two couples change dramatically. Andrea and Renzo, the couple all adolescents aspire to be, get married and have to live with their parents. Lily, with the help of her father and a counselor emerges victorious from the labyrinth that was her relationship with Daniel -- she breaks up with him.

Objectives

1. Position delayed sexual intercourse as a viable alternative for girls.

2. Offer positive modeling behavior for girls who encounter sexual pressure from their partners.

3. Show that saver sex and the consequences of unprotected sex are the responsibilities of men and women.

4. Position condom as an effective method to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

5. Reinforce the practice of safer sex as the smart thing to do.

6. Increase knowledge and expand approval for counseling services.

7. Increase knowledge about fertility.

8. Promote parent-adolescent dialogue about sex.

Impact

A sample of 399 adolescents, 15-19 years old, and high school seniors completed a questionnaire to measure the effects on attitudes and information-seeking behaviors of the mini-series.

Seventy two percent of the girls and 43% of the boys had watched the TV mini series. Almost two thirds (68.8%) of exposed males and females considered that the stories portrayed in the mini series could happen to them. More importantly, 15% of males and 25% of females said they had already lived the experiences.

About half (46.9%) of the exposed females had talked to others about the topics of the TV miniseries but only 20% of males had discussed it with someone. A third of the exposed male and female adolescents said they sought information related to adolescent sexuality.

One important finding was that the impact of the series on attitudes toward sexuality was stronger on females than on males. Exposed females showed statistically significant lower agreement with the statements that...

1. "having sex is a way to impress friends, and that;

2. the girl who uses condom with her partner has no moral values, than those not exposed.

In the same way, the exposed females were significantly more likely to agree that boys who use condoms are "more mature and responsible" and that they "care more for their girlfriends" than the non-exposed girls.

Twelve focus groups with adolescents and parents were also organized to discuss the content and to obtain reactions to the mini series. These focus group results confirmed the controversial aspect of adolescent sexuality and the need to learn how to deal with it in a way that can make people accept the emotions and feelings involved as something natural, understandable, justified, and healthy.