Teenagers and Sex:
Statistics and Anecdotes Supporting Parents as Sex Educators
FACT: Teenage Girls Are Thinking about Sex
A recent Gallup Youth Survey asked teens to name the most important problem facing their peers. Although sexual issues did not rank in the top slot overall (that honor went to substance abuse), girls were much more likely than boys to name sexual issues (teen pregnancy, abortion, STDs) as the single most important problem facing their peers. 9% of girls named sexual issues as the most important issue, while only 1% of teen boys agreed.
FACT: Parents Still Influence Teens
According to Christian Smith, an influential and widely cited sociologist, author and professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill:
“Parents still have an enormous amount of influence of their kids’ lives, even though I’m sure that’s very hard for them to believe at times. Adolescents are not routinely coming to their parents and saying ‘thanks so much for steering me in the right direction.’ …They don’t say it, but it’s still a fact. Parents have a lot more influence, and therefore responsibility, than they realize. Teenagers will never admit that they look to their parents for guidance, but most do.”
Smith’s comments based on the National Study of Youth and Religion (2001-2005)
NBC News and PEOPLE Magazine commissioned a national poll of 1,000 teens between the ages of 13 and 16 (2004, Princeton Research Associates International). Using scientific methods, the survey provides some of the first real numbers on the sexual attitudes and behaviors of young teens. Some highlights of this research include:
Ø 14% of 13 and 14-year-olds say they are sexually active, which means they have gone beyond kissing. That number jumps to 41 percent when kids reach 15 and 16.
Ø 27% of young teens say they have been with someone in an intimate or sexual way.
Ø According to the NBC News/PEOPLE Magazine survey of 13 to 16 year olds, 66 percent of young teens say there is pressure to have sex by a certain age.
Ø 85% of the parents surveyed for our poll say they speak to their children often about sex and relationships. But only 44 percent of their teens say they have those same conversations.
Ø Our survey revealed that about one in eight -- that's 12% -- of young teens between 13 and 16 have had oral sex. An almost equal, 13 %, have had intercourse.
Ø According to our national study, 40% of sexually active young teens have had oral sex at least once to avoid having intercourse. 68% also say they did it to avoid pregnancy.
Ø Nine in 10 young teens who have had oral sex say they know it puts them at risk for sexually transmitted diseases, but only three in 10 always use protection.
Ø And 77% of the young teens we surveyed agree that oral sex is sex. But it seems it’s not considered a rite of passage. More than half say kids who have only oral sex are still virgins.
Ø And in fact there is good news. Our survey shows that seven out of ten teens, between the ages of 13 and 16 are not sexually active and haven't really gone beyond kissing.
More details on this survey and its methodology are available at www.msnbc.com.
A sexual health analyst for Focus on the Family says the recent Katie Couric Special on NBC (January 2005) about teenagers and sex offered a pretty balanced view of the topic but missed a couple of significant issues regarding teen sexuality.
FOTF’s Linda Klepacki says she not only watched the televised Katie Couric special called “The 411: Teens and Sex,” but she also checked out the survey that NBC and Newsweek did for the program. Klepacki says the show was enlightening and its information was put forth without a spin. However, she is concerned about one crucial topic that was missing from both the TV program and the magazine survey, “Pornography is a huge issue in the teen population today,” she says. “They didn’t even touch on that subject, and I was surprised and I wondered why, because pornography is another sexual activity.”
Although she regards this neglected issue as cause for concern, the analyst says the NBC program and survey did provide some good news, such as the fact that 72% of teens get their sexual education primarily from their parents. Parents need to be sexual educators for their children, Klepacki says, because other sources may not share the parents’ values.
FACT: Parents aren’t talking about sex.
According to a 2002 national survey of 15- to 17-year-olds, one in four girls who have had sex say their parents don’t know about it. Of all teens surveyed, half had never had a conversation with a parent about how to know when a person is ready to have sex.
FACT: Parents can impact their teenagers’ sexual choices.
A national survey reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) revealed that adolescents who reported feeling connected to parents and family were more likely than other teens to delay initiating sexual intercourse.
Published by WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House
www.shannonethridge.com www.everywomansbattle.com
Release date: June 2005 ISBN: 1-4000-7005-8 Format: trade paper Page Count: 240
Category: Youth Interests/Christian Living/Sex Price: $13.99
Interviews available: Pamela McClure, pamela@mmpublicrelations.com, 615.595.8321