Results from an online survey of sex and relationships, including attitudes and sexual history, paint a complicated picture for young US men.
The Chicago-based youth market research company TRU partnered with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Seventeen magazine to conduct the survey of 1,200 males ages 15-22 in November. Of participants, 300 each were ages 15-16, 17-18, 19-20, and 21-22. The intent was to measure sexual respect, Seventeen said.
Among the findings:
*45 percent said they were virgins.
*60 percent reported lying about something related to sex: 30 percent lied about how far they have gone, 24 percent about their number of sexual partners, and 23 percent about their virginity status.
*78 percent agreed there was “way too much pressure” from society to have sex.
*57 percent of sexually active respondents reported having had unprotected sex.
*53 percent said they had talked with a parent about preventing pregnancy.
*51 percent said having sex before marriage was acceptable in their family.
*66 percent said they could be happy in a serious relationship that did not include sex.
The survey also found a double standard in terms of “hooking up,” “friends with benefits” and other areas of sexual openness: Among males, 53 percent said having a lot of casual partners makes them popular, but 71 percent said it makes girls less popular.
[Article source: http://www.usatoday.com ]
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UNITED STATES: Swearing Off Sex: Statistics Show Most Teen Abstinence Vows Are Abandoned
Most teens who pledge to remain sexually abstinent until marriage break that vow within five years, studies show. Therefore, when former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's teenage daughter renewed her pledge recently before millions of "Oprah Winfrey Show" viewers, some experts responded skeptically.
Bristol Palin's pregnancy was announced just days after Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose the governor to be his 2008 running mate. On the show, Bristol declined Winfrey’s suggestion that she might take the opportunity to reconsider her abstinence pledge.
Winfrey asked whether Bristol had set an unrealistic goal. "It's a realistic goal for myself," the 19-year-old said.
"It may be 10 years before you get married," Winfrey said. "Why set yourself up so that everybody you go out with, you date - the media is going to be looking at that person, trying to get that person to sell you out, to say, 'Did you have sex or not?' It’s nobody’s business when you chose to have sex."
"Abstinence works when it is used consistently and correctly," said Monica Rodriguez, vice president for training and education for the Sexuality and Information Council of the United States. "The problem is that abstinence isn’t always used correctly, and when it fails, it has a really high failure rate."
However, abstinence-only sex education rarely discusses the proper use of condoms and other contraceptive means to avoid STDs and pregnancy, Rodriguez said. That discussion should begin at home. "Parents are the most important people in kids' lives in terms of this," she said. "You have to share your values."
[Article source: http://abcnews.go.com]
UNITED STATES: Half of Teen Girls Have STIs by 2 Years of First Sex
A new study of young urban women found many acquired an STD shortly after sexual debut, while STD screening typically begins years later. And a companion study found the “Horizons HIV Intervention” curbed risky behavior among young urban African-American females.
In the first, eight-year study, 386 girls ages 14-17 at baseline were enrolled from three adolescent medicine clinics. By age 15, 25 percent of participants had acquired at least one of three STDs for which they were screened, most often chlamydia.
The median interval between first intercourse and first STD diagnosis was two years. Within one year of intercourse, 25 percent had acquired their first chlamydia infection. The study also screened for gonorrhea and Trichomoniasis vaginalis.
“Repeated infections were very common,” said Dr. Wanzhu Tu of the Indiana University School of Medicine. “Within four to six months (depending on the organism) after treatment of the previous infection, a quarter of the women were re-infected with the same organism.”
“These young women are vulnerable to STIs, but because of their younger age, they may not be perceived by health care providers as having STI risk, and thus are not screened in a timely manner,” Tu said. “For urban adolescent women, STI screening (especially for chlamydia) should begin within one year after first intercourse and infected individuals should be retested frequently, preferably every three to four months.”
The Horizons study involved 715 African-American females ages 15-21 who were recruited from reproductive health clinics in Atlanta. The Horizons intervention consisted of two four-hour, group-based sessions and four telephone contacts over a 12-month period. The program targeted personal, relational, sociocultural and structural HIV/STD risk factors, and participants were given vouchers facilitating partner STD screening and treatment.
The Horizons program reduced first and recurrent chlamydia infection and led to higher reports of condom use. In addition, it led to a decrease in douching, which has been linked to risk of STD infection.
The studies, “Time from First Intercourse to First Sexually Transmitted Infection Diagnosis Among Adolescent Women” and “Efficacy of Sexually Transmitted Disease/Human Immunodeficiency Virus Sexual Risk-Reduction Intervention for African American Adolescent Females Seeking Sexual Health Services,” were published in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine (2009;163(12):1106-1111 and 1112-1121).
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UNITED STATES: Association of Sexual Abuse with Incident High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Infection Among Young African-American Women
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A longitudinal study was performed as part of a larger HIV/STD randomized controlled behavioral trial that randomly recruited eligible participants from October 2002 through March 2006. At baseline and 12-month follow-up, 665 females ages 18-29 completed a survey assessing known HPV risk factors and sexual abuse history. Specimens were assayed for high-risk HPV. Incident infection was defined as laboratory confirmed high-risk HPV infection at follow-up after testing negative at baseline.
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[Article source: http://www.stdjournal.com]
