Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

How Teen Sex Affects Education

Having sex while in a romantic relationship doesn't generally affect teens' grades in school, but casual sex might, a new study shows.

"Compared to abstinence, sexual intercourse in committed romantic relationships is often academically harmless, whereas in other types of relationships it is more detrimental," noted Bill McCarthy and Eric Grodsky, sociologists at the University of California, Davis and the University of Minnesota, respectively. "Females and males who have sex only with romantic partners are generally similar to abstainers on most of the education measures we examined."

Compared to abstainers, teens who only have casual sex are at greater risk for lower grades and problems in school, and are more likely to be expelled or suspended, less likely to be attached to school, and less likely to go to college.

The study was to be presented Sunday at the American Sociological Association's annual meeting in Atlanta.

Source: Businessweek
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/642031.html

Statistics on Internet Pornography

A compilation of statistics from Online MBA reveals the disturbing extent to which Internet pornography has invaded our culture. Click on the graphic below to view the full graphic.

Via: Online MBA

CDC Study: 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Results

Since 1991, The U.S. Center for Disease Control has surveyed teens every two years in order to identify trends in risky adolescent behaviors. The results of the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey have just been released.

First, let's look at the percentages on some of the areas surveyed:

• Have had at least one drink of alcohol (during their life): 72.5%, down from 75% in 2007.
• Have had at least one drink within 30 days of the survey: 41.8%, down from 44.7% in 2007.
• Have had five or more drinks within a few hours, within 30 days of survey: 24.2%, down from 26% in '07.

• Have used marijuana at least once (during their life): 36.8%, down from 38.1% in 2007.
• Have used marijuana at least once within 30 days of the survey: 20.8%, up from 19.7% in 2007.

• Have tried cigarette smoking (during their life): 46.3%, down from 50.3% in 2007.
• Have smoked cigarettes at least once within 30 days of the survey: 19.5%, down from 20% in 2007.

• Have had sexual intercourse (during their life): 46%, down from 47.8% in 2007.
• Have had sexual intercourse with 4 or more persons (during their life): 13.8%, down from 14.9% in '07.
• Have had sexual intercourse within 30 days of the survey: 34.2%, down from 35% in 2007.
• Drank alcohol or used drugs before last sexual intercourse: 61.1%, down from 61.5% in 2007.

• Seriously considered attempting suicide during 12 months before survey: 13.8%, down from 14.5% in '07.
• Made a plan about how they would attempt suicide during 12 mos before survey: 10.9% down from 11.3% in '07.
• Attempted suicide during 12 mos before survey: 6.3%, down from 6.9% in 2007.

• Rarely or never wore a seat belt: 9.7%, down from 11.1% in 2007.
• Rode with a driver who had been drinking within 30 days of survey: 28.3%, down from 29.1% in 2007.
• Drove when drinking alcohol within 30 days of survey: 9.7%, down from 10.5% in 2007.

While on the surface it appears that there are broad, although slight decreases in at-risk behaviors, the study indicates that in terms of trends, most changes are statistically insignificant, amounting to "no change." The areas noted above where changes in trends were indicated were:

• Have had at least one drink within 30 days of the survey - decrease
• Have tried cigarette smoking (during their life) - decrease

To view the extensive overview of the report, click the source link below.

Source: CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/pdf/us_overview_yrbs.pdf

Survey: More Than 40% of U.S. Teens Have Had Sex

More than 40 percent of unmarried U.S. teenagers -- or 4.3 million teen males and females -- have had sex at least once, a new U.S. government report shows. The survey's results indicated that 42% of female teens and 43% of male teens indicated having had sex. The numbers reflect only a slight drop from 2002, the last time the National Survey of Family Growth was conducted.

This continues a flattening trend seen since 2002 and caps a downward trend seen between 1995 and 2002, especially in males, said report author Joyce Abma. The report was issued Wednesday by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.

Perhaps more surprisingly, one in five teen girls and one in four teen boys who had had sex said they would be pleased if they or their partner got pregnant. "This is really quite alarming," Albert said. "I don't think it takes a Ph.D. to understand that in this day and age and in this economy the route to success doesn't begin with a family at age 16."

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/womens-health/articles/2010/06/02/more-than-40-of-us-teens-have-had-sex.html

Parents Don’t Think Own Teens Are Having Sex

Many parents don't think their kids are interested in sex, but believe that everyone else's kids are, a new study reveals.

"Parents I interviewed had a very hard time thinking about their own teen children as sexually desiring subjects," said study researcher Sinikka Elliott, an assistant professor of sociology at North Carolina State University. "At the same time, parents view their teens' peers as highly sexual, even sexually predatory."

Elliott interviewed 47 parents of teenagers, including six fathers and the rest moms. Interviews, which lasted from one to 2.5 hours, included various questions about parents' beliefs and experiences regarding teen sex. Questions about sexuality focused on what parents teach their children about sex and the dynamics of those discussions, including: why parents say what they say; how they feel about talking to teens about sex; and what they think of teen sexuality.

Parents consistently characterized their children as young, immature and naïve. Essentially, these parents considered their teens as sexually innocent, and even asexual, Elliott said.

Parents seemed to have no trouble envisioning other people's teens as having sex, however, saying their teens' peers were "real sexual," and "promiscuous." One parent said, "[Teenagers] got their cute little bodies and their raging hormones. They're like raring to go."

"This binary thinking does more than simply establish their teens as asexual and, therefore, good; it also creates a scenario in which their teenagers are imperiled by their peers," Elliott writes in the May issue of the journal Symbolic Interaction.

For instance, parents of teenage boys often voiced concern that their sons might be lured into sexual situations by teenage girls who, the parents felt, might use sex in an effort to solidify a relationship. Meanwhile, parents of teen girls expressed fears that their daughters would be taken advantage of by sexually driven teenage boys.

Source: MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36918121/ns/health-sexual_health/

College Hookups Aren't as Common as People Think

Young people may not be "hooking up" on college campuses as much as the popular culture suggests. At least that's what a new study found when researchers asked students some specific questions about an often-ambiguous topic.

Most agree that hookups are no-strings encounters, but just what that means can range from kissing to sexual intercourse.

So researchers at Duke University spelled it out for a random sample of almost 1,500 students at the Durham, N.C., campus — and found that only about one-third had had a hookup in college.

"People have been speculating that the hookup was becoming the dominant relationship. We don't think it is," says sociologist S. Philip Morgan, co-author of the research presented over the weekend at the non-profit Population Association of America annual meeting.

Researchers surveyed 732 freshmen and 723 seniors and found that of the one-third in each grade that had had a hookup, less than half involved oral sex or vaginal intercourse. The study also found that nearly 60% of the freshmen reported that they had never had sexual intercourse.

"Our findings call into question some popular accounts as well as some social scientific ones," researcher Wendy Brynildsen said in her presentation. "We find a diverse mix of campus relationships at Duke. We also find a strong association between previous relationship behavior and current relationship behavior for both freshmen and seniors."

She says the findings show that, of those at Duke who had hookups, many had hookups in earlier relationships, and for freshmen, that meant in high school. The researchers did find that drinking as well as having friends who hooked up has a strong effect on hooking up.

Source: USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-04-18-hookups18_N.htm

Teen Birthrate Drops in 2008

After rising to its highest point in two decades, the rate at which women in the United States gave birth declined in 2008 as the economy deteriorated, according to government statistics released Tuesday.

There were 41.5 births per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19 in 2008, a 2 percent drop from the previous year. After a two-year increase in teen births prompted concern that one of the nation's most successful social and public health efforts was faltering, 2008 marked the return of a decline in which the rate fell 34 percent over many years.

"This is good news," said Stephanie J. Ventura of the National Center for Health Statistics, which released the annual preliminary analysis of birth certificate data. "It might come as a surprise because people were concerned the teen birthrate was on a different course."

Source: Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040600758.html

4 in 5 College-Age Students Don't Believe Oral Sex is Sex

It probably comes as no surprise to most people to learn that 80% today's young adults don't believe that oral sex should be considered as "having had sex" given that they were young and impressionable during the 1990s and the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. I remember at the time being concerned that the cultural definition of what it means to "have sex" might change, and it appears that it has, given that only half as many young people in 2007 think oral sex is sex than the numbers reported in a 1991 study.

This new study, appearing in the journal Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health doesn't attempt to comment on issues of morals and values, but is contained to sociological and health perspectives. The authors of the study worry that fewer numbers of people who consider oral sex as sex may result in an accompanying rise in sexually transmitted diseases.

To read the complete study, click on the source link below.

Source: Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/psrh/full/4207410.pdf

Herpes Infects One in Six in United States

As many as one in six Americans is infected with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), health officials said.

HSV-2, one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States, is a serious, incurable infection that lasts a lifetime, causing recurrent and painful genital sores, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Preventing STDs is a public health challenge that we, as a nation, cannot afford to ignore," Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said Tuesday during a news conference.

The CDC estimates that 19 million new STD infections occur every year in the United States, almost half of them among young people, Fenton added.

More than 80 percent of people infected with herpes don't know they are infected, Taylor said, in large part because symptoms can be mild or absent altogether. Symptoms also are often taken to be the sign of another infection.

The new findings on herpes, which were presented at the agency's 2010 National STD Prevention Conference, represent data from the 2005 to 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which involves households from across the country.

Source: U.S. News & World Report
http://www.usnews.com/health/managing-your-healthcare/policy/articles/2010/03/09/herpes-infects-one-in-six-in-us.html

Study: Abstinence-Only Classes Reduced Sexual Activity

Adolescents who took abstinence-only sex education classes were more likely to delay having sex, a new study shows.

In the study, some 662 black 6th- and 7th-grade students, ranging in age from 10 to 15 with an average age of 12, participated in classes held on Saturdays at four Philadelphia public schools that draw from primarily lower-income neighborhoods.

Students either took eight hours of abstinence-only classes; eight hours of safe sex-only classes that included information about sexually transmitted diseases and the importance of using condoms if sexually active; or an eight- or 12-hour comprehensive course that covered both abstinence and safer sex.

Another group of students were enrolled in eight hours of a general health class that did not discuss matters related to sexual behavior. That group served as a control for comparison.

Two years after the courses began, with 84.4 percent of the students still enrolled in the program, students in the abstinence-only class were 33 percent less likely to have had sexual intercourse than the controls.

The other intervention groups did not show statistically significant differences from the control group, according to the study.

The authors also stressed their study should not be read as an endorsement of all abstinence-only education. While facilitators encouraged delaying sex until some point in the future, they did not take a moralistic tone, portray sex negatively, use stereotypical depictions of men and women, or specifically tell students to wait until marriage.

One of the fears about abstinence-only education is that teens would be less likely to use condoms once they started having sex. Researchers found no such connection in this study. Students in the abstinence group and students in the control group who went on to have sex were equally likely to have used condoms.

The study is published in the February issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Source: BusinessWeek
http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/635527.html