This document discusses factors that influence sexual activity in adolescents ages 15-19 in the United States. Nearly half have had sex at least once. Key influencing factors include family, peers, biology, media exposure, and socioeconomic status. Positive influences like parental involvement, high self-esteem, and monitored media can decrease risks, while risks increase with less parental attention, peer pressure to fit in, and living in poor neighborhoods. Increased sexual activity in adolescents is linked to higher rates of STIs, unwanted pregnancy, and school dropout.
8. More exposure leads to
more sexual action…
Kids should be limited to
at most 1-2 hours per
day
Kids should not have a
TV in their room
Most sexual facts are
informed through the
media
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9. Increase in Sexually Transmitted
Infections (STI’s)
Increase in Unwanted pregnancies
Higher school drop out rates
Increase in help for low income families
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Editor's Notes
The risks, statistics, and influences that are incorporated in an adolescent’s sexual activity are investigated. The following literature reviews demonstrate and support the hypothesis.
Sexual activity during adolescence causes an increase in teen moms, sexually transmitted infections (STI’s), school drop-outs, and higher effects on adolescent’s psychological state. To prevent or reduce the consequences of adolescents being sexually active, interventions, education, and awareness are used. . A meta-analysis involving youth-focused intervention/prevention programs aimed at delaying sexual activity and reducing risky behaviors found no evidence of having beneficial effects (DiCenso et al., 2002). On the other hand, Brody et al. (2006) found that numerous family intervention techniques that focus on parent-child communication, parental monitoring, involved parenting, and limit settings have shown a dramatic effect on these outcomes.
Friedlander et al. (2007), focused on the influences that were involved in decisions that are involved in sexual activity during adolescence. This study examined 784 adolescents (394 boys and 390 girls). These boys and girls were followed for a year; they all were enrolled in grades 5, 6, and 7th. The hypothesis in this study was that biology, family, and peer influences were involved in dating in early adolescence, which would increase the risk of having sexual contact with their partner.
Parental monitoring was found to be a major factor in this area. Putting attention to their children and tracking their whereabouts was found to decrease the adolescent’s sexual activity.
“Peers set an example for the adolescent and the adolescent imitates the behavior of valued others because of a general desire to look and behave as their peers do” (Friedlander et al., (2007). Most adolescents want to fit in, if it requires to have intimate relations with their partner it will happen.
Not only is peers and parents involved in influencing an adolescent… Pubertal maturation in adolescence is also involved. The more knowledge and maturity an adolescent maintains an increase in having pre-marital sex is seen. Findings of this research conjoined all of the three influences that were being studied and found that pubertal maturation was involved most in sexual and dating activities but with proper parental guidance and good peer experiences it would reduce the risks involved in adolescent sexual activity dramatically. The strengths from this research involves the extensive detail on all of the areas. As for the weakness of the research is that it was not a longitudinal study.
The environment influence research found that economic status does have an effect. The poor neighborhoods has an increased percentage in adolescent females being sexually active. The weakness in this research was that the participants in where mostly white. This will not give a chance to explore the different backgrounds and ethnicities. The strength of this research is that most of the information correlates to the other researches that have been done before.
The media research conclusion found that more exposure to adult based television and movies leads to earlier sexual activity they also found that restrictions on the hours per day should be applied. The strength of this study was that the information was gathered from a longitudinal study. As for the negative, it could have biased information given by the researcher who was involved with the longitudinal research.
In a research article by Forhan et al. (2009), focused on the prevalence of STI’s. The research involved 838 females who were within the ages of 14 to 19. Among these young women 37.7% were sexually experienced and 24.1% of them showed having one of the five STI’s mentioned. “These findings support early and comprehensive sex education, routine HPV vaccination at the age of 11 to 12 years, and C trachomatis screening of sexually active female adolescents” (Forhan et al., 2009). The results provided by this article could be incorrect due to the inaccurate information that participants gave. The strength in this article is that the participants were personally interviewed. The participants were also examined physically and provided laboratory results from the specimens that were given.
Adolescents that have a strong healthy relationship with their parents reduce the risks of having a sexually active life. An assumption can be made from these literature reviews that at an early age children are influenced by parental involvement, where they live, peers, and maturity. Due to the insufficient longitudinal studies, more longitudinal studies should be done. It is imperative to understand adolescent sexual behavior and how different lifestyles may affect their future in their sexually active lives.