teenage sex

Teen Sexual Behavior
(For Parents)

cont. from

Teenagers should learn the facts about human reproduction, contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Of the over 60 million people who have been infected with HIV in the past 20 years, about half became infected between the ages of 15 and 24. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 25% of sexually active teenagers get a sexually transmitted disease (STD) every year, and 80% of infected teens don’t even know they have an STD, passing the diseases along to unsuspecting partners. When it comes to AIDS, the data is even more chilling -- of the new HIV infections each year, about 50% occur in people under the age of 25.

Young people need to know that teens who are sexually active and do not consistently use contraceptives will usually become pregnant and have to face potentially life-altering decisions about resolving their pregnancy through abortion, adoption, or parenthood.

Health classes and sex education programs in the schools typically present information about the risks of sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy risk, and contraception. However, evidence shows that traditional sex education, as it has been offered in the United States, increases sexual knowledge, but has little or no effect on whether or not teens initiate sex or use contraception.

Parents, too, need to know important information, such as the younger the age of first sexual intercourse, the more likely that the sexual experience was coercive, and that forced sexual intercourse is related to long-lasting negative effects.

The following is all related to later onset of sexual intercourse:

• Having better educated parents
• Supportive family relationships
• Parental supervision
• Sexually abstinent friends
• Good school grades
• Attending church frequently

cont.

Last updated: 8/05

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