A recent study shows that more than 40 percent of adolescents had intercourse before discussion of the birds and the bees ever took place with their parents.
Doctor’s commenting on the source’s article say parents need not hesitate having the discussion with their children, regardless how awkward the conversation. In postponing a much needed conversation, such as safe sex, a rude awakening could be prevented.
Via Time Magazine:
The study involved 141 families enrolled in the Talking Parents, Healthy Teens program, organized by the University of California Los Angeles/Rand Center for Adolescent Health Promotion and overseen by Schuster. Parents and their children, aged 13 to 17, responded to questions about 24 issues regarding sex and sexuality, including how women become pregnant, body changes that occur during puberty, how to use condoms and birth control, as well as issues around homosexuality.
Researchers asked both parents and their children, separately, when they had first discussed each topic, and compared that information to teens’ self-reports about their engagement in three specific categories of sexual behavior — hand-holding or kissing; genital touching or oral sex; and intercourse. Families were surveyed four times, once at the beginning of the study, then again at three, six and 12 months.
By the end of the study, more than half of the parents reported that they had not discussed 14 of the 24 sex-related topics by the time their adolescents had begun genital touching or oral sex with partners. Forty-two percent of girls reported that they had not discussed the effectiveness of birth control and 40% admitted they had not talked with their parents about how to refuse sex before engaging in genital touching. Nearly 70% of boys said they had not discussed how to use a condom or other birth-control methods with their parents before having intercourse. Yet only half of the boys’ parents, by contrast, said they had not discussed condom use or birth control with their sons.
It’s interesting how they say the parents need to talk about it with their kids, when many aren’t even comfortable discussing it with other adults — even their own partners.
I think part of the issue is that parents are afraid of being asked tough questions, possibly some that involves the parent’s current or past sexual experience. I know as a little girl I asked my mom during one of our “talks” whether or not she was a virgin when she married my father. She answered, “Yes.” I suppose it’s simpler to have “the talk” with your daughter when you yourself have played by the rules. Me on the other hand, I can’t say I’ve always been on my best behavior.
Source: Time Magazine via Yahoo! News
