Teens Seek More Sex Advice from Parents
by Jason Collum
January 30, 2004
(AgapePress) - Teens want their parents to give them advice and talk to them more when it comes to the topic of sex, a study has found. The study also found teenagers "express more cautious attitudes and values toward sex than is perhaps generally believed."The study, by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, shows that parents are the biggest influence on teenagers' decisions about whether to have sex, but many parents do not realize it. Among teenagers, 45% said their parents are the biggest influence, while 31% said their friends are.
Also in the study: Adults are far more likely than their children to think it is embarrassing for teens to admit they are virgins. Forty-eight percent of adults said it is embarrassing for teens, while only 26% of teens felt the same way. Eighty-five percent of teenagers said sex should occur only in a long-term committed relationship, up from 82% last year.
"The parents are in a 15-20-years-ago thing of having sex was the way to be cool," said Sarah Brown, director of the campaign. "They didn't come of age in the full-blown understanding of AIDS and with quite as much attention to teen pregnancy and how it derails young lives."
The survey polled 1,008 adults (79% were parents) and 1,000 teenagers.
Jason Collum, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a staff writer for AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association. This article appeared in the February 2004 issue.