Why Teens Have Sex

I. Introduction

“When should a person become sexually active?” is a question from an article called: Teenagers and Sex: Are They Ready? The fact is that the only time someone is responsible enough to have sex is when they are fully aware of the consequences of participating in any sexual activity. In the popular magazine, the claim is that Environment, age of partner and perceived family support may affect young people’s decision to have sex. The research that will be shown in this paper suggests that the media is the main reason why the adolescents are so interested in sex is because the media shows too much of sex. The United States is known to have the most rates in teen pregnancy and STD’s. Do the media support the prevention of premarital sex? Not with all of their advertisements that are using sex as a tool to sell their products. The popular magazine tells us that the media isn’t playing an important role as the environment, age of partner and family support, which they say is the reason why adolescents tend to have sex. Those things also play a role in an adolescent’s life but the media, whether they know it or not, might actually be fueling the adolescent’s minds into thinking that this thing at their age is fine and acceptable to society. The media can be an important factor to why adolescents experiment with sexual intercourse but that is where we need to do research. It may also be the fact that parents aren’t preventing their teens from things they shouldn’t be exposed to. We just can’t simply blame the Media without properly conducting research. The study that is about to be shown is trying to prove whether or not the media is the main reason why teenagers have sexual intercourse or sexual activities.

II. Methods

A study was conducted by the researchers from the University of Kentucky at a meeting in the American Public Health Association (APHA). They decided to follow 950 teenagers in 17 different high schools in Kentucky and Ohio. The students they ranged from were 9th to 11th graders and they got this information by letting them fill out surveys anonymously. Another study was based on the age of partner hypothesis. (Wiederman) Harold Leitenberg, Ph. D., a professor of psychology at the University of Vermont was trying to find out that if these girls that lost their virginity at the age of 11 or 12 and if they decided to have a partner 5 years older. So they conducted research by handing out surveys. Another research done at the APHA meeting showed that Adolescents who felt that their families were more supportive were less likely to have unprotected sex, and thus were at a lesser risk for pregnancy and disease. This study was done by the raising of hands in a classroom.

This is indeed an ongoing problem in the adolescent world. The more sexual activity that we have among adolescents the more chances and risks we have for STD’s, HIV and AIDS. A study found in the article: The Mass Media Are an Important Context for Adolescents’ Sexual Behavior, shows that Teens who are exposed to sex from the media, and who get the support they need from the media, report that the chance of engaging in sexual intercourse is greater. A survey of 1,800 teenagers found that about 75% are very or somewhat concerned about HIV/AIDS, STDs, and unwanted pregnancy, but statistics like the following are shocking: 19% did not know that STDs can be spread through oral sex, 60% did not know that STDs can cause some kinds of cancer, 33% did not know that the risk of HIV/AIDS is increased by having STDs, and 24% did not know that STDs can cause infertility. (Tynan)

The research done by Skyler T. Hawk, Adolescents' Contact With Sexuality in Mainstream Media: A Selection-Based Perspective, showed participants were recruited through high schools and middle schools, mostly in urban areas, that agreed to participate in data collection. Thirty-one schools were randomly selected and contacted, 18 of which immediately agreed to participate. When a school did not agree to assist in data collection, they tried to recruit a "sister school" for the study, equivalent to the non-consenting school in terms size, student population, level, and denomination. The final sample consisted of 29 schools. Contact with sexual content in the mainstream media was measured by six items on a 5-point scale, from 1 (never) to 5 (very often) that asked participants how often in the last 6 months they had read something about sex in a book or magazine, heard something about sex on a radio program or saw a television program where sex was discussed, and accessed the internet or called an information line to gain knowledge about sexuality.

III. Results

The research shows that the adolescents actually could find their needs met with the message given by the media, but it is still not certain that the media is 100% to blame for this. What they found was that these young teens were found having sexual intercourse based on their knowledge of their friends experience with sexual intercourse, even if they really weren’t having sex. “You’re 2.5 times more likely to have sex by the 9th grade if you think your friends are having sex вЂ" whether or not they really are,” says Katherine Atwood, assistant professor at the Kentucky School of Public Health. Harold Leitenberg, Ph. D., a professor of psychology at the University of Vermont showed that his study found that 4,201 girls in 8th through 12th grades, those who lost their virginity between the ages 11 and 12 tended to have partners five or more years older.

An article called “Teen Sex: Fueled by Media Images or Curbed through Good Information?” writes this: “Pass any magazine rack and sexy images are on prominent display, not just in the popular magazines for adults, but also in those geared for the teen market. Overall, one-third to one-half of the television shows teens commonly watch contain verbal references to sexual issues (Tynan). The end result is that 20% of teens have sex before reaching age 15 and while teen sexual activity has declined, and astounding 48% have engaged in sexual intercourse. Regarding sexual socialization, Brown concluded that the mass media are important providers of sex education for American adolescents. According to Strasburger, nearly 50% of adolescents report getting information about birth control from the media. Health professionals continue to be concerned about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), AIDS in particular, among the adolescent population. At the end of 1999, there were over 25,000 cases of HIV infection