Chapter Outline

Sexuality as an Adolescent Issue

Young children are curious about their genitals, but it is not until adolescence that behavior becomes truly sexually motivated.
Puberty results in the ability to sexually reproduce. At that point, sex play and sexual activity take on a new and more serious meaning.
Adolescents' new cognitive skills (such as hypothetical thinking and decision making) play a role in their new found interest in sexuality.
In the midst of these changes, adolescents need to feel comfortable with their changing bodies and how others feel about them, and learn to be sexually respectful both of themselves and others.

How Sexually Permissive is Contemporary Society?

The process by which children and adolescents are exposed to and learn about sexuality, sexual socialization, is not the same in all societies.
Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead noted that sexual development in traditional cultures was a gradual, calm process, unlike that in contemporary American society.
Ford and Beach, in an extensive anthropological study of over 200 societies, identified three types of societies in regard to sexual socialization: restrictive societies, semi-restrictive societies, and permissive societies.

Sexual socialization in restrictive societies

In restrictive societies, sexual activity among the young is strongly discouraged. Sexually active young people are often punished and humiliated in restrictive cultures.

Sexual socialization in semi-restrictive societies

In semi-restrictive societies, sexual activity among the young is discouraged, but prohibitions are rarely enforced. On the whole, contemporary American culture fits pretty well within the description of a semi-restrictive society.

Sexual socialization in permissive societies

Finally, in permissive societies, young people are allowed to and are encouraged to engage in sexual activity.

Sexual Attitudes Among Adolescents

The sexual attitudes of adolescents and adults in the United States have become more liberal over the last 30 years.
Although American adolescents have become more liberal about sexual activity that does not mean that they endorse promiscuity.
American adolescents tend to report that sexual relationships should be characterized by emotional involvement and commitment.
Instead of having multiple sexual partners during any one time period, adolescents are more likely to have a series of committed sexual relationships. This practice is commonly known as serial monogamy.

Trends in Sexual Activity During Adolescence

Stages of sexual activity

Sexual development during adolescence involves an unfolding of a number of sexual activities and behaviors.
One of the first types of sexual experiences that adolescents have are autoerotic experiences such as masturbation.
By high school, most young people have begun to involve others in their sexual activity in the form of necking and petting, and eventually oral sex and sexual intercourse.

Premarital intercourse during adolescence

In terms of sexual intercourse, overall only a small percentage of young people have experienced intercourse by age 13.
There are important ethnic differences however. For instance, close to half of African American males have experienced sexual intercourse by the age of 13.
Recent estimates suggest that by age 15, about one third of male adolescents and one quarter of female adolescents have experienced sexual intercourse. These numbers rise to 80 percent for both sexes by age 19.
It is important to keep in mind that although young people are engaging in sexual intercourse earlier than in previous decades, a significant minority have not had sexual intercourse more than once.
Also, most young people report only having had one sexual partner.

Changes in premarital intercourse over time

First, the proportion of high school youth who have experienced sexual intercourse has increased from about 20 percent during the early 60s to more than 50 percent today.
Second, the average age of first intercourse has dropped to between 15 and 16 years old.
Finally, the proportion of adolescent females having sexual intercourse has increased dramatically over the last three decades.

The Sexually Active Adolescent

Psychological and social characteristics of sexually active adolescent

There is no evidence to suggest that the gender identity of heterosexual individuals is any clearer than the gender identities of homosexual individuals.
Homosexuality is currently not considered a mental health problem, but a form of sexual preference that is influenced by both biological and environmental factors just like heterosexuality.

Parental and peer influences on adolescents' sexual activity

Studies that have looked at the relationship between family variables and sexual activity in young people indicate that parental monitoring and open communication are not related to the degree of sexual activity in adolescents.
Parental attitudes about sex do seem to be related to adolescent sexual behavior.
Household composition has also been found to be related to sexual activity in female children. Females in single-parent households are more likely to be sexually active than females in two parent households.
Peers and friends have also been found to influence sexual activity. An adolescent is more likely to be sexually active if his friends are.

Risk factors for sexual activity & sex differences in the meaning of sex

Male sexuality tends to be initially established outside of an interpersonal context. Less of an emphasis is placed on friendship and intimacy, and more of an emphasis placed on achievement and competition.
In contrast, female sexuality is more rooted in the interpersonal; females are more likely to try to couple sexual experiences with friendship and emotional commitment. Not surprisingly, female adolescents are more likely than males to choose as their first sexual partner someone with whom they feel they are in love.

The Influence of hormones and friends on adolescent sexual behavior

See B above

Homosexuality during adolescence

Having sexual contact with a member of the same sex, and having exclusive preference for sexual contact with someone of the same sex are two different phenomena.
In one study, about 20 percent of the adolescent males surveyed reported homosexual activity. Yet, typically by the end of adolescence, less than 10 percent of American adolescents report anything other than exclusive preference for heterosexual activity.
It should be noted that sexual preference and sex role behavior are not linked.
There is no evidence to suggest that the gender identity of heterosexual individuals is any clearer than the gender identities of homosexual individuals.
Homosexuality is currently not considered a mental health problem, but a form of sexual preference that is influenced by both biological and environmental factors just like heterosexuality.

Sexual harassment, rape and sexual abuse during adolescence

Growing numbers of young people are sexually victimized every year. This victimization takes many forms ranging from suggestive comments to forcible intercourse.
The school is one context where sexual victimization is prevalent. One study found that four out of five females and three out of five males reported unwanted sexual attention while in school.
Familial sexual abuse has been linked with numerous problems including poor self-esteem, academic difficulties, and depression.

Contraceptive use

Estimates differ on what percentage of American adolescents do and don't use contraception.
It is apparent though that young people in the United States are poorer and less effective contraceptive users than adolescents in most other industrialized countries.
Popular methods of contraception among American adolescents are the birth control pill, the condom, withdrawal, and rhythm.
Factors that affect contraceptive use among American adolescents include unavailability, insufficient education, cognitive limitations, and irresponsible notions about sexuality.

AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections

In addition to the risk of pregnancy, sexually active adolescents are also at risk for contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI). A serious STI that has gained considerable attention recently is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The AIDS virus, HIV, attacks the immune system, making it difficult for the body to defend itself against disease. AIDS is a growing concern in the adolescent population especially among minority adolescents in the United States. The best way for sexually active adolescents to protect themselves against AIDS is through the use of condoms.

Teenage Pregnancy and Childbearing

Nature and extent of the problem

In the United States, many young women experience pregnancy by the end of adolescence. Recent estimates suggest that as many as 25 percent of young women become pregnant by their eighteenth birthday. About half of the pregnancies end in abortion or miscarriage.
Of the pregnancies that result in the birth of a child, most involve the child remaining with the adolescent mother. These mothers are unmarried, poor minority females. Hence, adolescent childbearing and childrearing tends to more often than not take place in a context of poverty.

Contributing Factors

Studies indicate that most of these young women did not want to be pregnant, and the biggest difference between themselves and other adolescent females is that they were poor contraceptors.

The Role of the Father

The fathers of children born to adolescent mothers tend to be young adults that are likely to have a history of problems.
These males do not make good marital partners therefore marriage between the adolescent mother and the child's father typically creates more problems than it solves.

Consequences for the Mother and Child

Children born to adolescent mothers are at greater risk for a variety of developmental problems not due to the mother's age, but to the impoverished circumstances in which these children tend to live.
The long-term consequences for adolescent mothers while not always dim generally include disruption in educational and occupational achievement and all to often the continuation of the cycle of poverty.
Studies suggest that social and economic support are essential for helping the adolescent mother cope with child rearing.

Teenage Pregnancy Prevention and Intervention Programs

Various approaches to sexual education have been assessed for their effectiveness in reducing adolescent pregnancy.
The most promising programs tend to include a school based sexual education program that is coupled with a clinic designed to provide access to information and contraception.

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