Recently in Teens Category

This was a good news/bad news article - so read it! But check this out - scary and interesting and explains why 1 in 4 teens has an STD. In this typical Midwestern high school, 1/2 of the students who were "romantically involved" (yes, this means sexual activity including intercourse), are connected.

The big blob in this image is that connected group of kids. It's like Suzie slept with Bob, who slept with Tina AND Laurie. Laurie slept with Justin who slept with Suzie. And on and on. If Suzie had an STD well, I guess she'd get it back from Justin, at least in theory.

Mapping Sexual Networks

The Center for Adolescent Health and Development at the University of Minnesota National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health looked at over 5,000 adolescents and their mothers for one year. Researchers found that caring, connectedness, consistency, and clarity with teens are important-especially for younger teens.*

Specifically, they found that:

1 - When mothers reported satisfaction with their relationships with their daughters, their daughters were more likely to report that they had not had sexual intercourse. Similarly, high levels of mother-child connectedness are independently related to delays in sexual intercourse among eighth and ninth grade boys and girls as well as among tenth and eleventh grade boys. The effect of connectedness appears to diminish for older girls.
 
2 - Teens who feel that their mothers disapprove of their having sexual intercourse are more likely to delay intercourse. However, simply stating this disapproval is not enough. Parents must clearly explain and reinforce this message.

*"Connectedness" was defined as adolescents' feeling close to their mothers, knowing that their mothers cared for them, having open communication with their mothers, and feeling satisfied in their relationships with their mothers.

http://www.allaboutkids.umn.edu/kdwbvfc/fr_pub.htm

 

Do they lie? Or is it just that some STI's are so easy to get that intercourse is not required? That's my theory. And many STI's don't have symptoms, so teens don't know they are infected.

Fun stuff. Read more here:

http://www.jsyk.com/2011/01/10/abstinent-teens-test-positive-for-stds-study-says/

If you can make to the end of this article about this researcher who mapped teens "sexual networks" you will learn she found some good news too! This research is 5 years old, but so interesting!

It seems if a teen uses a condom the first time she has sex, she's more likely to use them consistently as she ages. The end result? They were 1/2 as likely to have an STI as the teens who didn't use a condom the first time they had sex.

They think using a condom becomes a normal part of their sex life.  Fewer sexually transmitted infections are a good thing. And I'm betting they also have fewer teen pregnancies, too.

http://www.artsci.washington.edu/news/Autumn05/Stovel.htm

A concise article on the internet, porn, cybersex addiction  and sexting, and how parents can help prevent access or help teens deal with what they've seen.

zikkir - http://zikkir.com/health/

A simple comic book style video game from Canada and the UK, created with help from 8 teens.  It asks several sex and STI (STD for you Yanks)-related questions.  Get one wrong, and the Sperminator will get you!  All questions seem to be true/false, and all answers have explanations.  Not a bad tool.

http://tinyurl.com/y8hkmg9

Young people commonly engage in risky sexual behaviors and increasingly are at risk for STDs and pregnancy, according to (CDC).http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5806a1.htm

The report analyzes sexual health and behavior data. The latest findings indicate:

• A majority of 18 and 19 year olds report having had sex.
• Approximately 30% of males and females ages 15-17 say they have had sex.
• Roughly 30% of 15-19 years olds report having multiple partners.

Of course it took Harvard to figure this out, but it seems, from a small sample of racially and ethnically diverse parents and kids, that parents are missing the boat when it comes to timing their sex talks with kids. This study is unique in that rather than being a retrospective account of when parents talked to kids, it was concurrent.

The researchers surveyed parents about the timing of dicsussion of different sex related topics with the stage of sexual activity they thought their kids had experienced.The kids did the same thing - except they reported the sexual activity they had engaged in at the time of the conversation.

Guess what? Time and again, the parents underestimated the level of sexual activity their kids had engaged in. For example, a parent talked to their child about wet dreams and said they thought their child had been kissed. The child reported they had experienced genital touching. Whoops!

Bottom line. Start talking about everything before they're sexually active. It will serve them well.

Check out the charts!  http://tinyurl.com/ydnkf95

 

 

 

 

 

Good info, shamelessly borrowed from the American Social Health Association. No surprises, here...

Young people commonly engage in risky sexual behaviors (sex at a young age and/or unprotected sex) and increasingly are at risk for STDs and pregnancy, according to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The report, Sexual and Reproductive Health of Persons Aged 10--24 Years --- United States, 2002—2007, analyzes sexual health and behavior data from a number of surveillance systems. The latest findings indicate:

• A majority of 18 and 19 year olds (70.6% of females; 64.7% of males) report having had sex.
• Approximately 30% of males and females ages 15-17 say they have had sex.
• Roughly 30% of 15-19 years olds report having multiple partners.

More than two-thirds of adolescents say they’ve received guidance in using contraceptives, and nearly 70% of male and females ages 15-19 used condoms at first intercourse.

Still, sexually transmitted Infections (STIs) are increasing among young people, and the authors say the numbers may reflect the advent of better screening programs. Regardless, the news isn’t encouraging: In 2006, nearly 22,000 youth were living with HIV, and approximately 1 million had a reportable sexually transmitted infection (chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis).

Among adolescents and young adults, communities of color bear a disproportionate burden of STIs and teen pregnancy. Lynn Barclay, ASHA’s President and CEO, notes “We know there are economic barriers to STI care and prevention, but we should also be aware of the role discrimination and stigma play in driving this epidemic,” emphasizing that a “whole person” approach to sexual health is needed.

 

 

What do teens and adults really think?

Take a minute and check out this report from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy – one of my favorite resources to keep up with teens and sex. 

It’s called “With One Voice – America’s Teens and Adults Sound Off About Teen Pregnancy” and is chock full of some very interesting information. One of the most interesting things is how differently adults and teens see the same issues.

Nearly 50% of teens say their parents are the most influential when it comes to making decisions about sex, while only 34% of parents believe this to be the case. Or this little nugget: 89% of parents say they’ve had a “meaningful” conversation about sex and about 71% of teens say they have. A wee disconnect there, huh?

66% of teens agree that their parents don’t know what to say, when or how to say it when it comes to sex. The good news is that 88% of parents think this too. So we’ve managed to fake it pretty well! I’d love to see the percentage of teens that think we don’t know what we’re doing somewhere in the 20% range.

What can you do to help bring this number down? I suspect that by just opening the door to conversations, their opinions will begin to shift.

Read the whole thing – lots of diagrams, so easy reading!

http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/national-data/pdf/WOV2007_fulltext.pdf