Chapter Eight

1. Childhood & Adolescent Sexuality Chapter Eight

2. Agenda • Researching Childhood Sexuality • Beginnings: Birth to Age 2 • Early Childhood: Ages 2 to 5 • Middle Childhood to Preteen: Ages 6 to 12 • Adolescence: Ages 12 to 18 • Sexuality Education

3. Class Discussion • What did you learn about sex during childhood? • What did you learn from your parents? • What did you learn from same-sex peers? Other-sex peers? • Where else did you learn about sex (doctors, siblings, media, school, religion)? • Did you ever get caught playing sex games? What happened? How did you feel about it?

4. Introduction • Children’s sexuality is not equivalent to adult sexuality • Should not attribute adult motives to children’s actions • Children desire love and try behaviors as a forerunner to adult sexuality

5. Researching Childhood Sexuality

6. Overview of Research on Childhood Sexuality • Society in the U.S. limits research on childhood sexuality, believing it may cause undesired sexual behaviors in children • Four large-scale studies conducted in the U.S. • More research is needed

7. Studying Childhood Sexuality

8. Four large scale studies in the U.S. • National Survey of Family Growth (1973-2001): household survey & interviews; participants are 14-44 years old • National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Males (1988, 1990-1991, 1995): surveys, interviews, & some urine testing; 15-27 years old, single males • National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (1994-1995, 1996, 2000): surveys & interviews of adolescents in grades 7-12, parents, and school administrators; examined social context • Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (data collected every 2 years): longitudinal survey of youth risk behaviors, grades 9-12

9. Studies of Childhood Sexuality.

10. Class Discussion • At what age do you think children should learn about sex? • Who do you think should be their primary educators? • If you decide to have children, will you talk to them about sexuality? If so, when and how?

11. Physical Development Psychosexual Development Sexual Behavior Infancy: Birth to Age 2

12. Infancy: Physical Development • Many behaviors are due to curiosity; not to be termed “sexual” • Male fetuses and newborns are capable of erections • Female newborns are capable of vaginal lubrication • Young children are capable of orgasm, although young boys do not ejaculate

13. Infancy: Psychosexual Development • Mother-child bond: assists child in obtaining food, warmth, and anxiety reduction • Infants need physical affection, warmth, and security from caregivers • After 24 months, gender identity is in place • Gender constancy will take a little longer

14. Infancy: Sexual Behavior Influenced by Curiosity • Children are learning about their bodies and how to control them • Penile and clitoral erections, and vaginal lubrication may all occur • Self-stimulation is common after 3-4 months; frequency varies • This is a soothing and tension reducing behavior; not to reach orgasm

15. Physical Development Psychosexual Development Sexual Behavior Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Early Childhood:Ages 2 to 5

16. Early Childhood: Physical Development • Critical time period to learn the basic physical skills we use in life • Continued learning about the body, how it functions, and how to control it

17. Early Childhood: Psychosexual Development • Interest and questioning nature about the genitals, bodily wastes • Discovering what it is to be a “girl” and “boy”

18. Early Childhood: Sexual Behavior • Girls and boys self-stimulate, although reports indicate boys do so more than girls • More common at this age than in later childhood; increases again after puberty • Parental reaction is important; • disapproval may lead to shame of self • rules of appropriate conditions should be provided Cont …

19. Early Childhood: Sexual Behavior • Child sex play may involve: • Exposing genitals • Undressing and touching • Asking questions • Rub bodies against each other • Often with same sex child

20. Early Childhood: Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes • Learn genitals are a unique part of the body and there are privacy issues • Boys are taught the name penis for their focus of sexual pleasure • Girls are not taught about their focus of sexual pleasure (clitoris) • Girls are often taught incorrect terms for their genitals

21. Physical Development Psychosexual Development Sexual Behavior Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Sexuality and Relationships Middle Childhood to Preteen: Ages 6 to 12

22. Middle Childhood to Preteen: Physical Development • External signs of puberty begin around 9-10 • Girls: breast buds, pubic hair, menarche • Boys: pubic hair and semenarche (after girls develop the similar aspects), frequent erections to various stimuli

23. Middle Childhood to Preteen: Psychosexual Development • Socialization about acceptable sexual behaviors • Bodily privacy becomes a concern • Sexual interest and activity increases throughout this time period

24. Middle Childhood to Preteen: Sexual Behavior • Sexual Fantasies: can begin at 4-5, and lead to physical arousal at 6-10 • Sexual Contact: • heterosexual and homosexual play; • curiosity and some incomplete knowledge. • Masturbation: this age obtains the ability to stimulate to orgasm • Boys: 2 times per week • Girls: once a month • Boys orgasm more frequently • Boys learn masturbation from each other and may do so in groups • Girls learn by accident

25. Middle Childhood to Preteen: Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes • Sexual scripts are formed, based on a variety of sources

26. Middle Childhood to Preteen: Sexuality and Relationships • Parents can become upset and confused about child sex play • Peers teach acceptable sexual principles; typically same-sex peer groups and experimentation; other-sex peers begin to be seen as potential boy/girlfriends; may experience early sexual contact • Sibling/Relative sexual contact may occur

27. Physical Development Psychosexual Development Sexual Behavior Influences Contraception and Pregnancy Sexually Transmitted Infections Hygiene and Sex Education Sexuality Education Programs Adolescence: Ages 12 to 18

28. Class Discussion How Well Do You Understand Childhood and Adolescent Sexuality? True or False … • A person’s sexual equipment begins working when he or she reaches puberty. • Kids are sexual throughout their childhood. • Adolescents today have the highest teenage birth rates ever. • Adolescents today have high unmarried teenage pregnancy rates. • Adolescent pregnancy is mainly an urban, minority problem. • Adolescent boys are irresponsible partners who will abandon their mate if she becomes pregnant. • Adolescents with larger or more-developed sex organs—bigger penises, larger breasts—have a greater sex drive.

29. Answers to Class Exercise • False. Male erections and female vaginal lubrication have been observed in young children, in newborns, and, believe it or not, are fairly common in the womb! • True. Freud believed that there was a latency period in middle childhood where the child basically ceased being sexual, but studies show a great deal of sexual activity, such as masturbation, thoughts about sex, and sexual activity with partners of the same and other sex during the school years. • False. A major problem in discussing such things is confusing teenage pregnancy rates and teenage birth rates. Teen birth rates have actually been falling since the late 1950s and have remained stable since. The reason is that a significant proportion of pregnant teens get abortions. However, there are many more teenagers today than in decades past, so the total number of teen births have increased.

30. Answers (cont.) • True. Teenage pregnancy rates are difficult to determine accurately, especially due to miscarriages and abortions. However, few people dispute that rates are high right now, though they have been leveling off since about 1980. One major difference with earlier eras is that teenagers who got pregnant used to marry the father, while now many do not. • False. Teenage pregnancy rates are high among rural youth as well, and more white teenagers get pregnant each year in the United States than minority teens. • False. Many teenage males do abandon pregnant mates. However, others are willing and desire to be responsible fathers. Those fathers often find that they have few legal rights to the children, are discouraged by the girl’s parents or by their own, and often do not have the financial independence to help economically without their parents’ consent. • False. There is no correlation between size of organs and sexual drive.

31. Adolescence: Overview • Begins after puberty, ends with identity establishment in adulthood • Period of physical, emotional, and cognitive change • Peer relationships, dating, sexuality all increase in importance • Many first experience heterosexual intercourse • Sexual orientation often is discovered

32. Adolescence: Physical Development • Body matures and establishes reproductive ability • Puberty typically begins around: • 8-13 for girls; menarche mean is 12 • 9-14 for boys; semenarche mean is 13 • Changes in cardiovascular, energy, sexual desire, mood, personality • Can be an awkward stage for many

33. Adolescence: Female Physical Development: • Develop breasts • Pubic hair • Rounding of hips and physique in general • Increased estrogen • Oily skin, fat deposits, sweating, bodily odors • Cognitions regarding menarche are going to vary depending on social reactions

34. Adolescence: Male Physical Development • Growth spurts (can grow 5-6 inches/year) and increased appetite • Increased testosterone • Scrotum darkens; testes & penis enlarge • Pubic hair, deepening of voice • Adult physique • Frequent spontaneous erections • Nocturnal emissions

35. Adolescence: Body Image

36. Adolescence: Psychosexual Development in Early Adolescence (12-13) • Supportive friendships are critical to healthy well-being • Cliques are common • Girls’ body image tends to improve through adolescence, boys’ body image worsens (the reverse as each grows older)

37. Adolescence: Psychosexual Development in Middle Adolescence (14-16) • Period of trying different roles • Experimentation with intimacy and sexual behaviors • Exclusivity in relationships increases • Informal dating, group dating • Difficult time for homosexual adolescents

38. Adolescence: Psychosexual Development in Late Adolescence (17-Adulthood) • Over the past few decades, age of first marriage and short-term sexual relationships have increased

39. Men and women experience important sexual and reproductive events at similar ages. Source: Alan Guttmacher Institute, In Their Own Right: Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Men, 2002, p. 8.

40. Teen Slang for Having Sex

41. Adolescence: Sexual Fantasies • Sexual Fantasies: Method of trying sexual situations and the potential reaction; often about those they know • Boys: more visual, explicit, various partners • Girls: more emotion, romance, committed partners, physical touch, complex

42. Adolescence: Sexual Behavior • Masturbation: increased activity to achieve orgasm; does not correlate with increased sexual behaviors as an adult • Boys: 3-5 times per week, less with regular sexual intercourse • Girls: less than boys, more with regular sexual intercourse • Abstinence – to maintain virginity • 20% never have intercourse as a teen • Reasons: avoid disease and pregnancy, parental values, peer values

43. Adolescence: Sexual Behavior • Related factors: live with both biological parents, connected to family, discussed it with parents, higher intellect • Boys are more embarrassed about virginity • Sexual Contact: Kissing and Petting • 73% of girls and 60% of boys aged 13 have kissed • 20% of boys and 35% of girls aged 13 have experienced breast touching • By 18, 60% experienced vaginal touching and 77% experienced penile touching

44. Adolescent Sexual Contact: Oral Sex • More oral sex than intercourse for current teens; it is viewed as less risky • 54% of girls 15-19 • 55% of boys 15-19

45. Adolescent Sexual Contact: Sexual Intercourse • Most boys (90%) wanted their first intercourse; mostly due to curiosity, also affection; 0.3% forced • Most girls (70%) wanted their first intercourse; most due to affection, also curiosity; 4% forced • First intercourse is usually not planned • 63% have intercourse by age 18; mean age 16.9 years • 12% of boys and 3% of girls have had intercourse by age 12 • 1st partners for girls are same age, older • 1st partners for boys tend to be same age or older, some are slightly younger

46. Adolescence: Same Sex Encounters • Same-sex contact is common at this age • 10-13% unsure about their orientation • 1-6% are homosexual or bisexual • 8-12% had sexual contact with same-sex partners

47. Adolescence: Racial Differences in Sexual Activity • African American males more likely to lose their virginity young and have more lifetime partners than non-African American males • Females tend to have sex later than males regardless of racial group

48. Adolescence: Influences • Peers: perceptions of peer behavior impact sexual behavior; lessened with strong family ties • Parents: if moderately strict & an open climate, tend to delay intercourse & use contraception; mainly mothers discuss sex • Religion: if religious, tend to delay & have fewer partners

49. Adolescence: Contraception and Pregnancy • Teens don’t consistently use contraception • The U.S. has the highest pregnancy, childbearing, and abortion rates of all developed countries • Factors in adolescent contraceptive use: good relationship with mom • Poor use factors: early intercourse, under 17, unstable relationship, homosexual • Teen pregnancy rates have decreased recently, due to increased contraceptive use; 75%+ are not planned

50. Adolescence: Contraception and Pregnancy • Many problems for teenage mothers: • lower birthweight babies, • difficult labors, • drop out of school, • poorer health, welfare, • children have poorer health and more behavioral and educational problems • Unmarried mothers and their children (regardless of race) are the most likely population segment to live in poverty