Teen sex rates level off
Categories: Teens & tweens, Pregnancy & birth
In the 90's, the numbers of teenagers having sex declined steadily. Maybe it was the whole grunge music thing. Maybe it was the debut of the Simpsons. Who knows. We know it wasn't due to abstinence-only education. And yet, the government has been pumping about $175 million dollars a year into such programs. In fact, the falling teen sex rates pretty much stopped falling right as the government started increasing funding for abstinence-only education.Michael D. Resnick, a teen health expert at the University of Minnesota, is worried. "My concern," he says, "is that this plateau is the canary in the coal mine -- a harbinger of a reversal of these positive trends." The problem was brought to light by the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a national survey of about 13,000 students in grades nine through 12. This survey is conducted every two years by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
So, what's the answer? According to Leslee Unruh of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse, the solution is more abstinence education, despite the fact that most parents don't approve of it and it has been shown to provide inaccurate information to students. Still, she believes that "we need to increase abstinence education and give more dollars to abstinence education. It is the healthiest program we have for young people."
I have to say, I don't agree with her. It has been my experience, both as a parent and as a son, that the best way to pique a teenager's interest in something is to forbid them from doing it. That goes double for sex.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SKL 7-27-2007 @ 10:41AM
I wonder if abstinence education has a different impact on girls than on boys.
But it wouldn't be needed at all if there wasn't a whole chorus of voices telling youngsters "we KNOW you are going to do it . . . " or even "it's OK / better if you do it." I certainly didn't get abstinence education from anyone but my mother. That was enough because society wasn't undermining her message to the extent it does today.
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asrai 7-27-2007 @ 2:45PM
Maybe they should start training for parents on how to talk to their kids about sex, masterbation and birth control.
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Caelligh 7-27-2007 @ 4:43PM
You can't make generalized assumptions about the positivity or negativity of teenagers having sex. Some teens have sex before they are appropriately informed or emotionally prepared for it, and that's bad. Another teen the same age may be more mature and informed and perfectly capable of having a healthy sexual relationship.
It's not the school's job to moralize sex. They should stay focused on the physical health aspects. Go into detail about how each STI is transmitted and what the symptoms are. How likely you are to get pregnant in different circumstances. Options in birth control. Physiology of the reproductive organs. Abstinence is the only 100% protection. Etc.
If anyone's going to talk to you about the morality or sex, what's socially appropriate, what's most likely to make you happy - that's the realm of family and close friends.
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thordora 7-28-2007 @ 2:42PM
Funny-most of the stats I can locate state that teen birth rates have declined since 1950, when most girls were told "good girls keep their legs closed".
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/05/1/gr050107.pdf
Back then, girls ended up married off, and "looking" legitimate instead of being chastised for being single unwed mothers. I'd say nothing has changed aside from an unwillingness to be in marriages that are based on nothing more than impregnating someone.
Education protects more than fear. And what your parents arm you with is a very good barrier against the rest of the world. Mostly because your mother might beat the bejebbus out of you. :)
That's a really interesting question regarding gender specific abstainance ed, but the real question is likely more along the lines of how prior gender conditioning will affect receptiveness of that type of sex ed. And if it's integrated into a broader program of awareness.
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caitlin 7-28-2007 @ 5:46PM
I am not a big fan of abstinence only education. It assumes that your only choice is abstain or have babies, even after you're married. Ours never discussed that just because you're married doesn't mean you're ready for a baby or that it's ok to take use birth control. I would rather teach kids how to research what method of birth control is best for them, be it abstinence, barrier, hormonal, or sterilization.
The abstinence based sex ed I had in high school didn't really teach you to think through your decisions, just to be afraid of incurring the Christian god's wrath. Maybe that works for the Christian kids, but it's laughable to expect that to be a deterrent for someone who does not believe in the Christian god. And that was the only reason we were given to abstain. Unplanned pregnancies and STDs are apparently divine punishment for non married people (never mind that they happen to married people too).
You can still promote abstinence as the best choice while teaching teens to think about the consequences of their actions. We had a couple of weeks of sex ed in our intro to university class that handled this very well.
It made the distinction between real world use and perfect use, highlighted things that could cause your birth control to become ineffective (doubling up on condoms, using the wrong lube with latex condoms, antibiotics use lowering the pill's efficacy, etc). It focused on responsibility for our choices, not shying away from making an informed decision.
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SKL 7-29-2007 @ 12:23AM
To a prior poster regarding declining teen birth rates - beware of comparing these over time. Marriage, followed quickly (and intentionally) by parenthood, used to be quite common for teen-aged females (and even males). In recent years, the trend has been to wait well into our 20's or even 30's to start a family, so "intended" teen pregnancies are far less common. In addition, considering that a third of today's pregnancies are terminated before birth, while this was illegal in most places until the 1970's, means that a high percentage of today's unintended teen pregnancies are aborted, so this distorts any comparison between the present and the 1950's.
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thordora 7-29-2007 @ 11:47AM
Sure, abortion was illegal. Which means that back alley abortions occured, and mothers died. What a great way to keep the birth rate down! Considering how difficult an abortion was to attain, let alone track, I don't think anyone can reasonably state the 1/3 number prior to the 1970's. (If you have the numbers, I'd love to see the data, I just don't have it available to me)
The stats within this study in particular cover the ages of 15-19 at time of birth.
They've concluded that BOTH forms of sexual education are important-teaching about how to abstain as well as how to be safe. I think it's important to note the conclusion made on that study regarding how young people having sex are making a huge mistake instead of regarding sex as a natural part of life, and treating them as responsible individuals making decisions for themselves.
I find it odd-the US has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the developed world, but also seems to have the worst record of open education and reasonable expectations for their young people to make good choices. I mean, on one hand they're too entitled, but on the other, they aren't able to make educated choices regarding their sexuality? (and yeah, I'm getting off topic, but the recent spate of "young people are pawns we control!" comments make me curious as to why they are only to be responsible when adults choose to let them be so)
On an amusing note, I wonder how many kids even today get things messed up like my husband's grandmother who married in the 50's-she had 4 or 5 kids in a row before the doctor finally was able to explain correctly how the rhythm method works. :)
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