Sexuality becomes an important issue during adolescence due to the physical changes of puberty, the increased capacity for the individual to think about sexual feelings, and the new social meaning given to sexual behavior by society.
The four developmental challenges of adolescence during this time are: (1) accepting one's changing body, (2) accepting one's feelings of sexual arousal, (3) understanding that sexual activity is voluntary, and (4) practicing safe sex.
HOW SEXUALLY PERMISSIVE IS CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY?
In the most extensive study to date on sexual behavior in different cultures, Ford and Beach categorized the sexual socialization of adolescents into three distinct societies: (1) restrictive (where adolescents are pressured to refrain from sex), (2) semirestricitve (where sexual activity is frowned upon but abstinence is not enforced), and (3) permissive (where attitudes towards sex are lenient).
Sexual Socialization in Restrictive Societies: Adolescents are pressured to refrain from sexual activity until they have undergone a formal rite of passage or have married.
Sexual Socialization in Semirestrictive Societies: Contrary to popular stereotypes of American society as being excessively permissive when it comes to matters of sex, especially in comparison with many other cultures, American society typically has followed either a restrictive or semirestrictive pattern.
Sexual Socialization in Permissive Societies: The transition of young people into adult sexual activity is highly continuous and usually begins in childhood.
SEXUAL ATTITUDES AMONG ADOLESCENTS
Attitudes toward sex have changed during the past four decades among American youth. Most teenagers today believe that it is acceptable to have intercourse before marriage as long as it takes place within the context of a loving, intimate relationship. Although an adolescent may have a series of sexual partners over time, he or she is likely to be monogamous within each relationship, a pattern known as serial monogamy.
SEXUAL ACTIVITY DURING ADOLESCENCE
Stages of Sexual Activity: The developmental progression of sexual behaviors has not changed very much over the last forty years. Both boys and girls follow a similar sequence of behavior beginning with autoeroticbehavior (i.e., masturbation or nocturnal orgasms) and moving toward sexual activity that involves another person.
Sexual Intercourse During Adolescence: Sexual intercourse, once delayed until early adulthood, is now a part of the typical adolescent's experience. Approximately two-thirds of all teenagers have sexual intercourse before graduating from high school, although there are wide ethnic and regional differences in the age of onset of sexual activity. African-American adolescents are more likely to begin sexual activity earlier than other adolescents and to progress toward intercourse more quickly. The most dramatic change during the past two decades in the incidence of adolescent sexual activity has been among white females, however. Over the past twenty-five years, rates of sexual intercourse in different sub-groups of American adolescents have converged.
Changes in Patterns of Adolescent Sexual Intercourse Over Time: Rates of adolescent sexual activity accelerated rapidly in the early 1970s, stabilized until the late 1980s where the rates escalated again, stabilizing in the 1990s at over 50 percent of adolescents reporting being sexually active. Rates of early sexual activity are quite high, and since the 1960s, rates of adolescent sexual activity for males and females are nearly the same.
THE SEXUALLY ACTIVE ADOLESCENT
Early sexual activity does not carry the psychological risks that many adults associate with it. In general, adolescents who are sexually active have psychological profiles that are similar to those of their peers. There is evidence, however, that early sexual activity is more common among teenagers growing up in single-parent households and is associated with higher rates of problem behaviors. Adolescent sexual behavior is influenced not only by the family but also by peers, siblings, and forces in the broader community.
Parental and Peer Influences on Adolescents' Sexual Activity: Parent-child communication about sex has only a small effect on the sexual activity of the adolescent. Permissive parental attitudes is associated with more sexual activity, but the adolescents' opportunity to have sex, having sexually active friends, and their use of alcohol and drugs are far more important predictors of sexual activity than are family factors. One important family factor is family composition; girls from single-parent households are more likely to be sexually active than their peers. Peers influence the sexual behavior of adolescents in two ways: (1) if an adolescent's peers are sexually active, the peers establish a norm that sex is acceptable, and (2) peers or potential sex partners may exert direct influence through comments they make to the less sexually experienced adolescents.
Sex Differences in the Meaning of Sex: Any discussion of the psychological aspects of adolescent sexuality must differentiate between the experiences of males and females. Early sexuality for males is tinged with elements of recreation, whereas for females it is more linked to feelings of intimacy and closeness. Because of the risks of pregnancy, adolescent girls are more likely than boys to be socialized to view sex with caution and are therefore more likely to feel ambivalent, rather than uniformly positive, about engaging in sex.
Homosexuality During Adolescence: Approximately 8 percent of the adolescent and young adult population is either partially or exclusively gay or lesbian. Sexual orientation (the extent to which someone is oriented toward heterosexual activity, homosexual activity, or both) is not connected to an individual's sex-role behavior (the extent to which an individual behaves in traditionally masculine or feminine ways) or gender identity (which gender an individual believes he or she is psychologically). Current theories of the origins of homosexuality suggest a complex interaction of genetic and environmental influences. Experts agree that homosexuality is not a form of psychopathology. In addition, many of the difficulties experienced by gay and lesbian youth result from their being harassed by peers and adults.
Sexual Harassment, Rape, and Sexual Abuse During Adolescence: The majority of teenagers report having been sexually harassed at school and a significant minority of youth, mainly females, are forced to have sex against their will. Date rape continues to be a problem on many college campuses, as well. Living apart from one's parents, having physical or psychological problems, being raised in poverty, and having parents who abuse drugs and/or alcohol are all risk factors for sexual abuse. Adolescents who have been sexually abused show higher than average rates of poor self-esteem, anxiety, fear, and depression; are more likely to engage in risky behavior; and are more likely to become pregnant as teenagers.
Contraceptive Use: Adolescents are infamously poor users of contraception, especially in the United States. Most experts agree that the reason so few adolescents use birth control regularly is that contraceptives are not as accessible as they might be, that adolescents seldom anticipate having intercourse until they become sexually active on a regular basis, and that using birth control requires the sort of long-term planning that many young people are reluctant or unable to engage in.
AIDS and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Previously referred to as "venereal diseases," sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) affect 1 in 4 teenagers. Some of the most common forms of STDs are gonorrhea and chlamydia (both caused by a bacterium), and herpes and human papilloma (both caused by a virus). Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has come to the forefront in the past ten years as one of the more serious STDs. AIDS is transmitted through bodily fluids--typically semen and blood. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attacks the body's immune system, interfering with the body's ability to defend itself against life-threatening diseases like pneumonia. Although AIDS was initially concentrated within two groups, gay men and drug users, the incidence of AIDS is increasing among the heterosexual population, and the number of HIV-infected adolescents is doubling almost every year.
TEENAGE PREGNANCY AND CHILDBEARING
The Nature and Extent of the Problem: Preventing teenage pregnancy has been extremely difficult, and most sex education programs developed during the last two decades have failed in this respect. There are approximately one million teenage pregnancies each year in the United States, about half of which are carried to term.
Contributing Factors: Sporadic and inadequate use of contraception is the primary cause of teenage pregnancies. Among minority youth, ambivalence about childbearing may also be a contributing factor. Research shows that teenagers are not harmed psychologically by aborting their pregnancy or by placing their infant up for adoption, but each of these options is influenced by the S.E.S. of the adolescent's family.
The Role of the Father: Adolescent males who become fathers are distinguished from their peers who do not by problems with self-esteem, school, work, drugs and alcohol, and the law. The higher rates of problem behavior among teenage fathers suggest that marriage may not be the best response to pregnancy for teenage women. Fathering a child as a teenager hurts educational achievement and mental health, effects that are more pronounced among white and Hispanic males than among African-American males.
Consequences for Mother and Child: It is nearly impossible to know whether the problems that teenage mothers and their children face are the result of the mother's young age, or are the result of poverty and other factors associated with poverty. Recent research suggests that it is poverty more than the mother's young age that is responsible for most of the problems that teen mothers and their children experience. One factor that is associated with the age of the mother is that teen mothers are more likely than older mothers to see their infants as difficult and, therefore, spend less time with them. This decreased contact may be responsible for the increased likelihood of school problems, misbehavior and delinquency, and early sexual activity that the child of the teen mother faces. While poverty and teen motherhood usually go together, motherhood adds additional challenges to the already significant problems posed by poverty. Disruptions in education and career development result from teen motherhood, and the likelihood of remaining in poverty is higher among teen mothers than their poor peers who do not have children.
Teenage Pregnancy Prevention and Intervention Programs: To date, few programs designed to prevent teenage pregnancy and childbearing have proven effective on a large scale. Most programs administered through schools have helped to increase students' knowledge about sexuality, but these programs rarely alter behavior, with the exception of a small increase in contraceptive use. Programs involving a combination of school-based education and community-based health clinics to provide information about sex and access to contraceptives have diminished the rate of teen pregnancy, but such programs often face objections from parents for fear that they will stimulate sexual activity. While research results suggest that these fears are unwarranted, the benefits of such programs are limited to those teens who actually take advantage of the services. Adolescent mothers who have social support from family or friends and who are able to complete high school fare better than those who do not.
