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Early Sexual Activity: An Introduction

Who has the most influence on whether your child engages in early sexual behaviors? You do.1 That’s why it’s so important for parents to talk to their kids about sex and to give them clear guidelines about what is expected—and why. What exactly does “early” mean? Most parents and sex educators would hope it means before graduating from high school, but today only 35 percent of kids abstain from sexual intercourse until they’re 18.2 Tips for encouraging abstinence >
The asset-building approach encourages kids to abstain from early sexual activity. In fact, kids who value restraint and believe it’s important not to be sexually active (along with not using alcohol and other drugs) are more likely to succeed.


Did You Know?

  • According to Search Institute research, only 3 percent of middle and high school-aged youth with high levels of Developmental Assets indicate that they have had sexual intercourse. This contrasts sharply with the 33 percent of young people who have few assets and have had sex.
    • Tips for encouraging abstinence >
  • Even though teenagers are more likely to have sexual intercourse as they get older, having more assets keeps many from doing so. While 17 percent of high school seniors with 31 to 40 Developmental Assets say they have had sexual intercourse, 59 percent of high school seniors with 10 or fewer Developmental Assets report having sex.
  • High-school girls are most at risk when it comes to early sexual activity. Sixty-nine percent of high school senior girls who have 10 assets or fewer have sexual intercourse, compared to 54 percent of guys.3

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1. Bill Albert, With One Voice: A 2009 Survey of Adults and Teens on Parental Influence, Abstinence, Contraception, and the Increase in the Teen Birth Rate (Washington, D.C.: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2009).

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2007,” Surveillance Summaries, June 6, 2008, MMWR 57, no. SS-4 (2008): 21.

3. Peter Benson and others, A Fragile Foundation: The State of Developmental Assets Among American Youth (Minneapolis: Search Institute, 1999), 78.

 

Comments

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 2012-04-15 11:31.

you should not bully people would you like it if they bullied you would you like it cause i wouldn’t want them 2 bully me. theey should be niice to the person who u bullied u should not bully someone wants to be nice 2 u

Submitted by H_Taylor on Wed, 2012-09-12 00:13.
4

Not every family have these developmental assets that would help in encouraging kids to abstain from sex. Poor families are highly at risk of not having these assets. That is why lower income and lower educated families often grapple with the problem of teen pregnancies. Abstinence is always good, but in this day and age, it is harder to hold on to that value. H Taylor – http://www.paternitycentre.co.uk/blogs/

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2012-10-11 13:07.

Abstinence should not be the first thing you tell your teenager, it should be an option. Tell your teenager about sex and all the different types of birth control. The more knowledgeable they are the less likely they will have an unforeseen pregnancy. Look at any booklet or pamphlet that discusses contraceptive and abstinence will say it is 100% guaranteed, but they do not factor in how many people can stay away from sex until they are married or even 18.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2013-04-02 15:51.

with all the knowledge teenagers get many still fall prey to pre marital sex

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