Where do we go from Here?(adolescent sexuality and politics)(Statistical Data Included)

Adolescent sexuality is a complex issue with trends and counter-trends that make it difficult for policymakers, parents and others to know how to respond. Even the facts often appear in doubt or contradictory. Periodically, the media trumpet reports that adolescent pregnancy rates are "soaring," and indeed, rates among all adolescent women have gone up as sexual activity has become more common in the teenage years. At the same time, pregnancy rates among sexually experienced teenagers--who, after all, are the young women at risk of getting pregnant--have declined significantly since the early 1970s. Birthrates among sexually experienced adolescents have also declined (despite a slight rise recently) during this time.

An accurate appraisal of the situation is complicated by the fact that the outcomes of sex among teenagers that are clearly negative--STDs, unintended pregnancy, abortion and too-early childbearing--are intertwined with such profoundly difficult issues as poverty, race, family structure and substance abuse. Thus, it becomes easy and tempting, for some, to dismiss early sexual activity as a phenomenon confined to teenagers in poor, inner-city areas and dysfunctional families, or as part of a hopeless tangle of social pathology.

This report shows the reality to be quite different. The transition to adulthood has been radically, and probably irrevocably, altered by major social changes. Marriage and childbearing now generally occur much later, and initiation of sexual intercourse much earlier, than they did several decades ago. Most adolescents, regardless of their race, income status, gender or religious affiliation, begin to have sex in their middle to late teens. We must deal with these facts, even if we do not like them.

And we are not alone in our quandary. Current trends in sexual behavior are hardly unique to U.S. teenagers. They mirror trends among U.S. adults, as well as teenage and adult women and men around the world. In the last 20 years, for example, the proportion of births to U.S. women in their early 20s that were out of wedlock quadrupled. (284) Indeed, it is adult women, not teenagers, who account for most unintended pregnancies, abortions and nonmarital births every year. Out-of-wedlock childbearing has also become more common worldwide, and the increase has been less dramatic in the United States than in some other developed countries, including Australia, Austria, New Zealand and Norway. (285)

So, where do we go from here? What can we--as individuals, as parents, and as a society--do to help young people avoid the negative, at times life-altering, effects of sexual activity?

When, If Ever, Are Teenagers Ready for Sex?

This is one of the most troubling questions for adults--and frequently for young people as well. The issue is difficult because there is no defining moment or event--as marriage was for earlier generations--that marks the point at which a person is considered ready for sex, or at least the point at which it is considered appropriate to have sex. Often, teenagers are simply told to wait until they are "older." Age alone, however, is no guarantee of readiness for sex, or for the assumption of many other adult responsibilities, for that matter.