Of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Non-LGB Youth Sexual Behavior

Studies show that the national average for an adolescent’s first sexual intercourse encounter is seventeen years old. Despite this number being very close to the average age in other industrialized countries, the United States holds a higher percentage of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (STD) contraction than those countries (Harper et al, 2010, p. 125). It’s becoming evident that while a majority of the nation’s youth is sexually active, they are not doing so with the appropriate knowledge to keep themselves and others healthy.

Over the last fifty years there have been many changes to the sexual attitudes and behaviors in the United States. Going back through the early 1900’s misinformation was abundant when it came to the sexuality of the baby boomers and other older adults. Often when thoughts come to mind it is humorous to the younger generation when the notion of aging individuals engaging or enjoying sex. It is brought up in conversation disdainfully in media.

Sexual behavior in America has gone through some severe changes through the years and none seem to be for the better. This shows a huge change in the moral standings of our society as well as the liberal freedoms that women now have.

"Approximately four million teens get a sexually transmitted disease every year" (Scripps 1). Today’s numbers of sexually active teens differ greatly from that of just a few years ago. Which in return, projects that not only the risk of being infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) has risen, but the actual numbers of those infected rise each year as well. These changes have not gone unnoticed. In fact have produced adaptations as to how society educates its young adults about sex, using special programs, various advertising, and regulating sexual education courses in public schools. One major adaptation is the advancement and availability of

The Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale (BSAS) (Hendrick, Hendrick, & Reich, 2006), a 23-item questionnaire, was designed to measure multi-dimensional attitudes towards sex. The scale is a modified version of the original Sexual Attitudes Scale. For the current study, the Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale will be modified and shortened. The scale is made up of the following four subscales: Permissiveness, Birth Control, Communion, and Instrumentality. Some of the items refer to a specific sexual relationship, while others refer to general attitudes and beliefs about sex. Participants are instructed to answer questions with their current partner in mind. If the respondent is not currently dating anyone, he or she should answer with the most recent partner in mind. If the respondent has never had a sexual

They see the overwhelming importance given to sexual attractiveness in the media-one study estimated that the average teenager ahs witnessed nearly 14,000 sexual encounters on television- yet they also hear their parents and religious advisers telling them that sex is wrong. As a result, many young people begin having sex without really intending to and without taking precautions against pregnancy.

One of the major topics correlated with adolescents is the increase in sexual activity among adolescents (Miller & More, 1990). The dramatic increase in sexual intercourse among members of the United States, mostly homosexual men, lead to one of the worst epidemics in history, the AIDS

Contemporary hookup culture began to rise when the United States began to take the “virginity” topic to whole new level of discussion. Dating and intimate human interaction have always been a common conversation spoken by common people in our country. Moreover, the topic of casual sex has been the starting point for this increase attention on the Contemporary hook up culture. Certain authors have made claims that the problem is not casual sex, but a moral panic over the matter (Valenti, 23). According to Levy, “Levy’s concern isn’t necessarily moral, but rather that these young women seem less focused on their own sexual pleasure and more worried about being seen as “hot” by men” (Armstrong, England, and Hamiliton, 23). Similarly, the entire dating situation has been

Sexuality and sex in America is a complicated subject in that there is little consensus on the topic of sex in, and the American media sends many mixed messages regarding sex and sexuality to everyone, not just to adolescents. Americans are aware of sex primarily through advertising (print media, commercials, etc.) as sex is used to sell anything and everything. The media also bombards Americans with sexuality and sex on television and in films. The sexuality of teenagers is not a straightforward issue in America either. Many parents do not discuss sex or sexuality with their children. There have been ongoing debates as to whether sexuality should be taught as part of school curricula because there are such a great deal of adolescents participating in reckless and/or dangerous sexual behaviors, largely because they are grossly uneducated about sex. The paper will reference the film Juno and other texts as a meditation on the relationship between adolescent sexuality and the media.

The Sexual Risky Survey (SRS) was developed to be able to explicitly study risky sexual behavior in a college student population (Fisher et al., 2010). It is able to assess the frequency of sexual behavior within the past six months among college students. The final survey uses 23 questions that were taken from past surveys as well as from literature about sexual risk

While parents would like their children to wait as long as possible to begin having sex, the reality is that teens are having sex much younger than many parents think. Some teens, or preteens, begin having sex or engaging in sexual behavior in junior high. By the time they are seniors in high school, an estimated 65 percent of teens have had sex, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2007. (Dawn, 2009). Unfortunately, a percentage of those teens will become pregnant. After more than a decade and a half of decline (a 27 percent drop from 1991 to 2000), teen birth rates rose again in 2006, which was the last year for which data are available. It is still unclear on what caused teen birth rates to rise again, with supporters of abstinence-only sex education programs and contraception-based programs each blaming the other side for the increase. However, a 2007 study in the Journal of American Public Health attributed the trend in decreasing pregnancy rates to improved contraception use among teens during that time. (Anderson Orr, 2009).

The practice of casual sex is more popular among American teenagers; however, the feelings of independence and empowerment obtained by it are not the only consequences. Having multiple random partners can result in sexually transmitted diseases (STD), HIV, unwanted pregnancies and other physical risks. Moreover, depression and intimacy problems can bear

According to NATIONAL SURVEY OF TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS ON HIV/AIDS, “There are more than 1.1 million people in the United States living with HIV today, more than at any time in the history of the epidemic. Young people account for two in five new infections in the U.S., and minorities and gay men have been disproportionately affected. To better understand the views of young people in the U.S. on HIV/AIDS at this critical juncture in the epidemic, the Kaiser Family Foundation contracted with the research firm GfK in the fall of 2012 to conduct a national survey of 1,437 teens and young adults ages 15 through 24.( Kaiser Family Foundation 2012)” Nowadays, the age of maturity starts at an early age. From that point, they enter a world full of sexual desires that is apart of being human. This is why it is important for the parent(s) to be

At the non-profit organization known as RAND Corporation researchers performed three surveys on about 2,000 teens between the ages of 12 to 17 from 2001 to 2004. The results were published in the November edition of the journal Paediatrics, in the publication they focused on 700 participants nationwide who had engaged in sexual intercourse by the third survey. (Landau E, 2008, November 03) The researchers determined that even with the other related factors such as demographics and risk-taking behaviours put into play the connection between television sexual content and teen pregnancy still remained. (Landau E, 2008, November 03) In another survey published in Paediatrics more than 1,000 public middle school students in North Carolina were surveyed at the ages of 12-14 years old and were surveyed again two years later at the ages of 14-16 years old. They measured the students exposure to sexual content in television, movies, music and magazines and were divided into five equal-sized groups ranging from the lowest exposure to the highest exposure. The research showed that white teenagers even after taking into account other factors known to reduce the likelihood of teen sex, like parental disapproval of sex at that age and getting good grades, still increased. In fact each increase in grouping of sexual media exposure increased the likelihood of them being involved in teen sex by

Over many years, the views of premarital sex have been becoming increasingly more tolerant. The whole reasoning behind why sex was created is lost in the minds of society and used for pleasure and own physical satisfaction. There are negative consequences for these actions leading to guilt, depression, and numbness to intimate relationships. Having strong parental influence can also strongly affect the outcomes of adolescence and causal sex. Additionally, marriage can be