Risky Adolescent Sexual Behaviors And Reproductive Health

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.

"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

Create a brief report to explain the issues affecting young people in relation to sexual health and risk of pregnancy, including peer pressure, consensual relationships, and readiness for sexual activity, contraception, sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy options, including how age, maturity, ethnicity,

Multiple factors influence the rate of teen pregnancy. Some of the most important factors influencing pregnancy rates are socioeconomic status, education, and family income. With low socioeconomic status and income, parents may not always be present in their children’s lives in order to educate them on sex. School districts, then, take on the responsibility to educate teenagers on sexual intercourse and safe practices, but some fail. Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. provided statistics showing that while many schools push abstinence-only programs, they show little to no positive impact on preventing teen pregnancies (Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. (n.d.)). While abstinence may work for some, it is not realistic to believe that all teens will abide by it. Teens need a comprehensive sexual education with emphasis on safe sex practices, which is where Be Safe, Not Sorry comes into play. The comprehensive program will cover all

Sex has been widely viewed as a taboo topic amongst the pre-adolescents and adolescent population. Many teens around the world are experiencing sexual activity at a more alarming age than ever before (Anderson et al., 2011). Studies have been done to determine the causes for their sexual involvement and interventions that can be implemented to help increase the abstinence rate. However, it has been found that interventions should be initiated during pre-adolescent years. Unfortunately, studies have not yet determined the attitudes, experiences, and anticipation of sex among the pre-teens to identify what interventions to execute. This information is imperative for nurses to take into account when

In the last decade or so, however, the growing awareness of the dangers of AIDS does appear to have contributed to a decline in the rates of sexual intercourse among teens. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that between 1991 and 2005 the percentage of teenagers who are sexually active dropped from 57.4 percent to 46.3 percent among males and from 50.8 percent to 44.9 percent among females. The rates of pregnancy, abortion, and sexually transmitted disease among teens have actually dropped even faster than the rate of sexual activity. So it appears that, in addition to postponing sex, teens are also becoming more responsible in their sexual activities. For example, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 87.5 percent of teens were either abstinent or used condoms. Of course, that means that 12.5 percent of teens were still having unprotected sex, but that is a significant improvement over past decades. Similarly, although the rate of teen pregnancy has declined, more than 11 percent of the babies born in the United States

Increased accessibility to birth control in addition to proper sexual education and understanding the risks of STDs is responsible for the decline in overall teenage pregnancy.

Sexually transmitted diseases are a major public health concern in America today. The Centers for Disease control estimate that sexually transmitted diseases cost the U.S. heath care system as much as $15.3 billion each year. (Dougherty, 2010) Each year 19 million people become infected with a sexually transmitted disease. Half of the people that become infected every year are between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four, and may not even know they are infected. (Dougherty, 2010) One in four of the as many as 12 million new sexually transmitted disease infections that occur each year will occur in someone between the ages of 16 and 19. (Haggerty, 2009) Where by some estimates about half of all people will contract a sexually transmitted disease at some point in their life, almost no one will speak of having one. During the transition between childhood and adulthood biological development drives young people for social status. It is during these times that many teens decide that having sex is a good idea but under education about the consequences of their actions can cause unwanted results. (Haggerty, 2009) Sexually transmitted diseases can be a significant problem as young adults enter childbearing years, causing infertility and pregnancy complications (Kaestle and Waller, 2011)

Teen sexual health standpoints must be lifted to lodge the up-to-date compressions, myths, and the realities of the pressures and dangerous outcomes that the new generation is facing or if misinformed will soon face, in the relations of beginning to be sexually active and living a healthy and cautious sexual life in order to protect the teens from continuing to see high rates of STD reduction and transmission.

Teens having access to contraceptives would decrease the number of teens developing an STI. Contraceptives would also decrease the number of teenage pregnancies. In the article, “At Issue: Birth Control Availability,” the author states that birth control is necessary to lower the number of teen pregnancies. The author informs “Those who favor providing easy access to contraceptives say that young people who are already sexually active will not abstain from sex just because they don’t have access to birth control and will instead put themselves at risk for pregnancy” (“ProQuest”). Teens will continue to have sex, but providing contraceptives would lower the number of teen pregnancies.

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

Comprehensive sex education is effective at assisting young people to make healthy decisions about sex and adopt healthy sexual behaviors. Strong evidence suggests that comprehensive approaches to sex education help young people both to withstand the pressures to have sex too soon and to have healthy, responsible and mutually protective relationships when they do become sexually active. A November 2007 report found that “two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavioral effects (Rochman 2012).” Many delayed or reduced sexual activity, reduced the number of sexual partners, and increased the use of condoms or other contraceptives. Research has identified highly effective sex education and HIV prevention programs affect multiple behaviors and achieve positive health impacts. Behavioral outcomes have included delaying the initiation of sex as well as reducing the frequency of sex, the number of new partners, the incidence of unprotected sex, and increasing the use of condoms and contraception among sexually active participants. Long-term impacts have included lower STI and pregnancy rates (McKeon

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).

Statistics from recent studies suggest that only 13% of U.S. teens have ever had sex by the age of 15. But by the age of 19, seven in ten teens of both sexes have had sex. Between 1995 and 2006-2008, the percentage of teens aged 15-17 who had ever engaged in sexual intercourse declined from 38% to 28%. Among teens aged 18-19, it declined from 68% in 1995 to 60% in 2006-2008. The pregnancy rate among young women has declined steadily from 117 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15-19 in 1990 to 70 per 1,000 in 2005. However in 2006, the rate increased for the first time in more than a decade, rising to

The high rates of sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancies clearly indicate that a significant percentage of adolescents are having unprotected sex despite knowledge of sexual matters (Van Dyk, 1999: 138).