NBC/People Magazine Survey of Young Teens

This is a survey of predominately 8-10th graders and thus rife with all the inconsistencies of the age group. That said and without the comparative data on respondents (ie. boys or girls), there are some interesting points

• Any form of sexual activity becomes more acceptable with age.
• Based on all respondents, love is extremely important for sexual intercourse, but less so for oral sex.
• While claiming to wait to have a sexual relationship with "the right person", few saw it as a prelude to a closer relationship
• There is strong denial about the role of peer pressure in their decision but readily admit to curiousity or sexual desire.
• Of those who have not had sex, 74% said that their decision to wait was the main reason.
• Not wanting to disappoint parents far outweighed their friends opinions as a reason to wait.
• Avoiding pregnancy is a major reason for choices about sexual activity.
• Of teens admitting to oral sex or sexual intercourse, 46% said it is a casual relationship
• They claim to heed the condom message, much less so birth control
• Parents have lower expectations of teen sexual behavior in general and their own teen's in particular.
• Parents are overwhelmingly the kids' source of sexual information and teens deny media's influence.

What does this tell abstinence educators?

1. Educate parents and encourage them to raise their moral standards.
2. Emphasize that the negative consequences of unmarried sex aren't dependent on age.
3. Support young teens who do commit to abstinence
4. The sound byte condom message has an audience. Stress that the message rarely reinforces the correct way to use condoms, making the message dangerous.
5. Casual sex is a reality at this age. Discourage using someone or being used for sexual desire.
6. Teens are not stakeholders in solving the problems of teen pregnancy, abortion, STDs and HIV. There is a dis-connect with their behavior. This has to change.
7. The survey did not cover any emotional consequences of sexual behavior. This needs to be emphasized in education.
8. If responses about the irrelevancy of peer pressure are accurate, then teaching decision-making skills is even more important.
9. The media IS an influence on everyone. Teens need to learn how to be discriminating consumers of information.