Depression Linked to Risky Teen Sex
by AFA Journal
September 6, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Adolescents who experience increased levels of depression are more likely to participate in risky sexual practices, according to a recent study.Published in the July issue of Pediatrics, the study found that highly depressed girls were 50 percent more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior, and highly depressed teen boys were 70 percent more likely to do so.
Study author Dr. Jocelyn A. Lehrer of the University of California, San Francisco, speculated that adolescents "who are both emotionally distressed and socially isolated may be more likely to seek or be successfully pressured into sexual activity, in the name of some kind of shared intimacy, or to maintain relationships that they value."
Lehrer also reasoned that depression might make adolescents more vulnerable to sexual pressures and temptations to use drugs or alcohol -- a key factor in much teen sexual activity. Or, perhaps, she suggested, it was possible that risky behavior -- including sex -- was a young person's way of trying to harm himself or herself.
The potential impact of adolescent risky sexual behavior on public health is not small. Lehrer noted that 15-20 percent of all teens experience at least one bout with major depression. Moreover, adolescents account for about half of all new cases of sexually transmitted diseases.
Lehrer said that depressed teens who do become involved in sexual experimentation "have a greater likelihood of engaging in behaviors that increase their risk of HIV, other sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancy."
See related article at DrKoop.com
This article, printed with permission, appears in the September issue of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.
