Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Dad's Advice Could be Key to Teens' Sexual Activity

The idea that fathers play a significant role in the development of their kids' approach to sex has received some support in a new evidence review. Studies in the review suggest that adolescents have less sex if their fathers talk to them more about sexual matters.

The review suggests that "fathers do make a difference. It's not just about mothers," said lead author Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, a professor and co-director of New York University's Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health.

There are caveats. The review only looked at a few studies because there's little research into the role of fathers -- as compared to mothers -- when it comes to the decisions that teens make about sex. And it's possible that some other factor could explain the apparent link between more fatherly communication and less sexual activity.

While schools and health-care providers often focus on children directly in efforts to change the way they act, "in study after study, young people say that when it comes to these important decisions, it really matters what their parents think about these issues," Guilamo-Ramos said.

The review authors found and reviewed 13 studies about the effect that fathers had on the sexual behavior of their kids. The studies suggest -- but don't prove -- that communication between fathers and kids is especially influential.

Closeness with fathers at the beginning of a study was significantly associated with daughters delaying starting sex after a year of follow-up. A single study on father-son HIV prevention found that more communication about sex was linked to increased abstinence in the six-month study period.

The study appears online Oct. 15 and in the November print issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/10/18/dads-advice-could-be-key-to-teens-sexual-activity

Talking About Sex: Teens Less Comfortable Than Parents

Think that parents are the only ones who get stressed when talking to their teens about sex and relationships? Think again.

Just over 50% of moms and dads express some level of unease, compared to 82% of teens, a survey out today finds.

And on issues such as how to say no to sex, teen pregnancy and sexting, nearly 90% of teens say they don't want additional discussions with their parents. And one in six say their parents have never spoken to them about anything sex-related.

The findings, from a nationally representative survey of 2,000 parents and their kids ages 15-18, also show that being comfortable does not guarantee being informed: 81% of those who have sexually active teens know that their teens have had intercourse. But only 45% of those whose teens said they have had oral sex knew it.

Parents may underestimate their teen's sexual activity, but overall the new findings show that parents consider talking about sexual health an important part of their parenting job, says Leslie Kantor, vice president of education for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The health care provider and advocacy group co-sponsored the survey, along with the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health at New York University and Family Circle magazine, as part of the nationwide Let's Talk Month campaign.

According to the survey's findings:

-- 42% of parents say they've talked to their teens "many times" about how to say no to sex. But just 27% of teens say parents have talked that often.

-- 48% of parents say they've talked "many times" to their teens about when sex should or shouldn't take place; 29% of teens agreed.

-- 29% of parents say they've talked "many times" to their teens about birth control methods; 35% of teens say their parents "never" or just "once" discussed the issue.

-- 39% of parents say they've discussed the risks of sexting (sending sexually explicit text messages); 41% of teens say their parents "never" or "just once" discussed the issue.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/02/parents-teens-sex-talk/1606371/

Half of Teens Couldn't Live Without Their Phone for a Week

TextPlus, a free messaging app, recently surveyed 600 respondents between the ages of 13 and 17 to discover how connected teens are to their cellphones.

Half of all teens surveyed said they couldn’t live without their mobile device for a week, while 36% said they weren’t able to go 10 minutes without checking their phones.

Despite the variety of games and apps now available on smartphones, good ol’ fashioned texting still reigns supreme when it comes to teens’ preferred mobile activity; 61% said they couldn’t survive without texting — more than any other activity they perform on their phones.

With this reported addiction to texting, it’s not unusual to see teens check their phones anytime, anyplace, the survey said. Frustrated parents, beware: Whether they’re in class or at the dinner table, 52% of teens said they’re on their phones regardless of the environment. What’s more, 37% of those surveyed admitted to checking their devices on the toilet, and 20% said they do it at church.

The survey added that texting is the first and last thing teens do everyday, with 73% checking their phones before bed, and 72% on their devices first thing in the morning.

Source: Mashable
http://mashable.com/2012/08/21/teens-mobile-phones/

Memorial Day Kicks Off 100 Deadliest Days for Teen Drivers

Memorial Day may have marked the unofficial start of summer, but it also kicked off the 100 deadliest days for teen drivers.

From graduation parties and holidays to summer jobs, many teenagers spend more time on the road between Memorial Day and Labor Day than any other time of the year. Given that texting is the communication mode du jour for high schoolers, that extra time on the road often translates into more texting while driving.

While nearly every teen knows it's dangerous, 43 percent admit to texting from the road anyway, and 75 percent say their friends text and drive, according to an online survey of 1,200 teenagers ages 15 to 19, which was commissioned by AT&T.

Peer pressure is a key contributor to the prevalence of this hazardous behavior, says Andrea Brands, director of consumer safety and education for AT&T. "The fact [is] that most teens expected to receive a response [to their texts] within five minutes … That's one of the reasons why they really feel like they need to be texting all the time," Brands says. "That to me is a big reason why they're doing it, even though almost all of them—97 percent—said this is a bad practice."

Another way parents can attempt to quash texting behind the wheel is by practicing what they preach, Brands says. "Not just their parents, but adults in general are telling them not to text and drive, but then they're getting on their BlackBerrys and doing it themselves," she says.

In fact, 77 percent of the teens whom AT&T surveyed say the same adults telling them not to text and drive do it "all the time," according to the survey.

Sources: U.S. News & World Report, AT&T
http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2012/05/29/teens-learn-texting-while-driving-from-parents
http://www.att.com/Common/about_us/txting_driving/att_teen_survey_executive.pdf
 

40% of Teens Video Chat With Friends

More teens are using video chats to interact and communicate with friends, thanks in part to the adoption growth of apps such as Skype, Googletalk and iChat, according to a new study.

A report by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project finds that about 37% of Internet users ages 12 to 17 participate in video chats. Not surprisingly, 42% of girls — who tend to be more active on social networking sites — are more likely to web chat with others compared to boys (33%).

Teens of various ages are equally likely to use web chat services. About 34% of online 12 to 13 year olds use video chat, while 39% of 14 to 17 year olds do the same. Teens who are more active online, text frequently and use social media often are, not surprisingly, more likely to video chat.

About 77% of all teens between the ages of 12 and 17 use Facebook, while just 16% use Twitter. Teens who use Facebook and Twitter are more likely to use video chat, with 41% of Facebook users web chatting (compared with 25% of non-users) and 60% of Twitter users using video chat, compared with 33% of non-Twitter users.

The study also found that 77% of all teens have cell phones, 75% of which can send and receive texts.

Source: Mashable
http://mashable.com/2012/05/03/teens-video-chat/

Study: Teens Prefer Texting to Phone Calls

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, teens will be flummoxed when it comes to how to make a phone call. That's because there's more texting going on than ever, while voice calling continues to decline, says a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.

Three-quarters of teens use text messaging, Pew says (it's a little surprising the figure isn't higher), and the "volume of texting among teens has risen from 50 texts a day in 2009 to 60 texts for the median teen text user" in 2011, said Pew in "Teens, Smartphones and Texting," which looks at changes in teens' communication habits over the last five years, with a focus on mobile devices.

Pew reports: "Much of this increase occurred among older teens ages 14-17, who went from a median of 60 texts a day to a median of 100 two years later. Boys of all ages also increased their texting volume from a median of 30 texts daily in 2009 to 50 texts in 2011. Black teens showed an increase of a median of 60 texts per day to 80."

While 63 percent of teens say they exchange text messages every day, only 39 percent actually use their phones for voice calling. Only 14 percent of all teens say they talk daily with friends on a landline, down from 30 percent who said so in 2009.  Nearly a third (31 percent) of teens say they never talk on a landline with friends (or report that they cannot do so).

Source: MSNBC
http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/teens-texting-voice-calling-down-report-484645

One in Five UK Parents Use Gadgets as In-Home Intercom with Kids

In another sign of how technology can foster more communication, a new survey in Britain found that one in five parents use tech gadgets to talk to their own children while inside the same home.

Supermarket chain Asda recently conducted a nationwide survey and found parents were increasingly using technology as a form of in-home intercom with their kids, calling them to dinner or telling them to do their chores.

The most popular channel for this in-home communication was text messaging, which accounted for 55 percent of interactions. Facebook followed with 20 percent, and mobile phone calls trailed with 13 percent. For parents, the most popular message was “Dinner’s ready,” which accounted for 13 percent of messages on all mediums. Parents also frequently sent messages such as “clean your room” and “do your homework.”

“The fact is that technology puts us in touch with more people more often than ever before – and this is as true at home as it is when we’re out and about. Communicating with teens, for example, has never been the easiest thing for parents, and now low-cost gadgets are giving us a hotline to their rooms,” said Asda’s technology expert Nathan Mills.

Source: Gigaom
http://gigaom.com/2011/12/12/one-in-five-parents-use-gadgets-as-in-home-intercom-with-kids/

Parent-Teen Conversations About Internet Are Lacking

Comcast Corporation recently announced the findings of of its Internet safety and security survey to assess the general knowledge, attitudes and behaviors among U.S. adults and teens. One of the highlights in the independent nationwide survey revealed that although 95 percent of parents believe it is just as important to talk about online safety issues with their children as it is to talk about sex education and the risks associated with drugs and alcohol, only 65 percent have actually had that discussion.

To help parents initiate these conversations with their children as they progress through different developmental stages - teens, tweens, school-age children and preschoolers, Comcast is raising awareness about new discussion guides created by Dr. Michael Rich, Director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston. The results of the survey and the new guides come as the nation recognizes National Cyber Security Awareness month in October.

The discussion guides are available to all, at no cost at http://xfinity.comcast.net/constantguard/Education/For_Parents/The_Internet_Talk/?CID=66.

Source: MarketWatch
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/internet-conversations-lacking-between-parents-and-teens-according-to-new-comcast-online-safety-and-security-survey-2011-10-06

U.S. Teens Send 3,339 Texts Per Month

US teens are sending and receiving an average of 3,339 texts a month, relying more on SMS than voice calls, a new study has found.

According to a study conducted by research firm The Nielsen Company, an average 13 to 17 year in the US sent or received more than 6 text messages every hour they were awake, averaging 3,339 texts a month.

During the same time frame, voice calls saw a decline of 14 per cent to 646 minutes, or 11 hours of voice chat every month.

The company released the results of the study after analysing more telephone bills of 60,000 customers and surveying 3,000 teens.

It was found that teenage females sent and received an average of 4,050 texts a month and conducting 753 minutes of voice calls per month. Teenage boys on the other hand sent or received 2,539 text messages and talked for 525 minutes per month.

Source: IT Pro Portal
http://www.portal.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/10/15/us-teens-send-3339-texts-months-study-shows/

Adult Texting Increases, Teens Still Text More

Texting by American adults has increased substantially over the past year, but still does not approach the magnitude of text messages exchanged by adolescents. Some 72% of adult cell phone users send and receive text messages now, up from 65% in September 2009. Fully 87% of teen cell users text. Teens text 50 messages a day on average, five times more than the typical 10 text messages sent and received by adults per day.

Still, for most adults, voice calling is their primary use of the phone. They make and receive about 5 calls per day on average.

“Texting among adults has reached the mainstream and the charge is being lead by African-Americans, Hispanics and young adults,” said Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist and author the report. “Of course, none of these adult groups hold a candle to teens when it comes to texting, who swamp adults in messages sent per day by a factor of 5.”

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Cell-Phones-and-American-Adults.aspx