Sex and Adolescents

Sex education should be implemented at an early age beginning at the middle school level. A discussion of contraception, the risks of diseases, the risk of becoming an unwed teen parent and the disadvantages of not having an education will help decrease the number of teen pregnancies with future generations. Parents should not feel threatened of having their children learning about sex in class. Parents should feel empowered; it will allow their children opportunities to feel they are able to discuss future topics of sex at home to help promote

The role of educating students about the importance of healthy sexual relationships has fallen hard and fast on public schools. School aged boys and girls are not receiving information from their parents on what decisions they should make in regards to sex. Parents are finding this topic of conversation too taboo to breach and as a result, students are getting what little information they are receiving from school. Less then half of school aged adolescents talk to their parents about sex and abstinence (Smith, 2005).

We have all heard the stories about the rise in teenage pregnancies, girls dropping out of school to care for their newborns, and even those who get pregnant on purpose. This new trend is everywhere. Most parents fail to have the “talk” with their children and are left without the proper education regarding sex until its too late. With the current rates of teenage pregnancy correlated with the current rates of spreading epidemics of STD’s and HIV/AIDS, steps should be taken in an effort to aid the situation. Schools are a main source of information and education for teens, and are in a unique position that can provide adolescents with knowledgeable skills and understanding that promote sexual health. With consistent speculation surrounding

In the article “Abstinence Is the Best Policy in Preventing Teen Pregnancy” posted on the Opposing Viewpoints database, it is argued that teenagers are incapable of assessing and considering the risk of premarital sex and comprehension of the challenges in facing an unwanted pregnancy. The article goes on to say that while they are maturing, teens are drawn more to risky behavior including sexual behavior, and “as those choices get more risky […] guidance and limits from parents that are reinforced by peers, teachers, and other authority figures are critically important”. This article also challenges the results of sex education by stating that it is merely educational and shown to inform rather than change teens

Sex education, most commonly known as family life, is any information about sex and sexual relationships taught to maturing young people as a part of a school’s curriculum. Currently, there is a constant political and ideological debate in the United States over the merits of abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education programs in the teaching of our youth. Abstinence only sex education has been the primary sex education taught in the United States. Although different in their approach, the overall goal is to help them build a foundation to be able to make healthy informed decisions as they mature into adults. The objectives of sex education programs are to help adolescents develop a positive view of sexuality, body image and make responsible decisions in relationships (Knowles, 2012). Ultimately, any sex education should be a partnership between parents, guardians and school personnel. However, in recent years, a large amount of information about sexuality is acquired through friends, music, books and the media instead of from their parents. For some individuals,

Numerous individuals believe abstinence education is the essential key to “reducing out-of –wedlock childbearing, preventing sexually transmitted disease, and improving emotional and physical well-being among the nation’s youth” (Rector). In addition, 2010 study from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows that over 60% of teens believe sex should be reserved for marriage. Because of these numbers, abstinence education supporters believe it should be the go to sex education curriculum. Given that, abstinence

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).

There are new strategies that have been developed to address teen sexual health issues. These issues may vary from puberty, sexual behavior and sex education, gay questioning to teen pregnancy. Puberty is the stage of human development when the body becomes capable of reproduction. Parental advice, peer, media and religiosity are some influences that will impact teens’ sexual behaviors and decisions. Children learn a lot more through peers than parents or from any other source. (Yarber) The media portrays a lot of nudity, sexually provocative language, and sexual passion. Kids spend about 4 hours a day watching television and they are exposed to a lot of sexual information that most likely is not accurate. Adolescents are engaging in sexual activity at younger ages and should be properly educated in contraception use to prevent STD transmission and pregnancy.

At the inception of this article, much research regarding teenagers’ sexual behavior and attitudes already existed and is

Studies have shown that many teens are being pressured by other teens to engage in encounters they would otherwise engage in. This accompanied by the fact that many schools and states no longer require sexual education classes in schools has made for uninformed youth to commit mistakes they later learn are not so easy to deal with. The youth who are involving themselves in risky sexual behaviors are not taking into account the risk they are taking every time they are having unprotected sex. It is estimated that their friends are influencing about 43% of the youth having sex. (CDC,

Rates of sexually transmitted disease (STD), teen pregnancy, and teen births are higher in the United States than in the majority of other industrialized countries (Kohler, Manhart, & Lafferty, 2008), indicating the controversial role that sex education plays in the initiation of sexual activity. In contempt of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion rates are the highest among other developed countries (Kohler et al., 2008), and few public health evaluations on the effectiveness of formal sex education have been conducted. With a large social issue prominent in the United States, it is imperative to determine the differences based on formal sex education and whether abstinence-only education, comprehensive education or no education decrease health risks among adolescents (Kohler et al., 2008).

Adolescent sexual behavior has been a critical issue for many years and has become more predominant every day. Teens are at a point in their lives where they want to explore themselves, test their independence and see how they fit into society. There are many influences that can potentially contribute to their sexual behavior during these critical years of their lives. The purpose of this paper is to discuss three factors that may play a role in teen’s sexual behavior: peers, parents and the media.

Sexual education has long been a topic of debate among many different in our American society. The public schools system offers sexual education or sex ed to all students, and offer parents the option to exclude their children from these class rooms. Discussions to making these classes mandatory has drawn some positive supports and negative supports in the forum disputes of sex education topic. Due to the high number of teen pregnancies (As of 2012, the teen birth rate was 29 births per 1,000 teen girls (age 15-19), and there were 305,388 births to teen girls), Sex education should be made mandatory throughout the public and private school systems as a prevention measure.

The National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health and controlled for outside variables to its best abilities. It asked a series of questions that would determine closeness of the relationship. Overall the study concluded that “If parental support decreases after adolescent first sexual activity, this loss of support might well place youth at risk for a downward spiral in which problem behavior increases as supports fall away” (Benda & Corwyn, 1998; Benda, Corwyn, & Toombs, 2001; Davies & Windle, 2001; Windle, 2000) .

One of the world's biggest problems in today's society is teenage sex. United States has the highest pregnancy, abortion and child birth among teenagers. The biggest reason for this is because children grow up with the media promoting sex. Movies, music and magazines send the message that sex is okay and often expected. Teenagers don't fully understand the consequences that can arise from there decisions. The national campaign to prevent teen pregnancy has done a lot of studies and found about twenty percent of adolescents will have sexual intercourse before there fifteenth birthday and one in seven sexually active fourteen year olds will become pregnant. It has also been a concern that sexually active teenagers are far more likely to