And that is what the data suggests. |
For parents, I think these data show that conversations about sex need to be both broader and more specific. For healthcare providers, the implication is that we have to do a better job in getting messages to teens about the potential health risks of oral sex. |
Houston, we have a sequencing problem. |
If they want their teens to abstain from sex, they need to say exactly what they want their kids to abstain from. |
Parents have to be clear about their own sexual attitudes. |
Parents ought not be afraid to talk to their children early and often about sex, love and relationships, and to be as specific as they are comfortable being. |
The general sense is that, among teens, there is a greater comfort level with not having sex. That is something fundamentally different than existed 15 years ago. |
This is a topic that has been covered a lot in the press over the last 3 or 4 years. But past reports were based on anecdote rather than fact. For the first time, we have some data that helps shed light on this subject. |
What (parents) do and say matters a lot when it comes to teens' decisions about sex. It's not just peers and popular culture that are steering the ship. |