Sexuality

1. Sexuality • Dating • Sexual activity • Problems in adolescence • Contraception • Pregnancy • Abortion • Parenthood • Sex education programs

2. Sexuality in Adolescence • Physical changes: Puberty • Increased sex drive (motivation) • Maturation of sex organs (reproduction) • Secondary sex characteristics • Cognitive changes: • Introspective reflection • Self-consciousness • Hypothetical thinking • Conjecture • Impulse control • Social changes • Significance of sexual relations • Curiosity becomes sexual motivation • Connection with adult roles

3. Developmental Challenges • Comfort with maturing body (changes) • Accepting feelings of sexual arousal • Engaging in voluntary sexual activities • Understanding and practicing safe sex

4. Developmental Patterns in DatingThe American Experience • Most adolescent girls begin dating around age 12 or 13 • Most adolescent boys begin dating around 13 or 14 • By age 15 about 20% of adolescents say they have “gone with” someone • Dating before among American adolescents tends to follow a developmental sequence of four steps: • Adolescents in same-gender groups go to places where they hope to find other-gender groups • Adolescents take part in social gatherings arranged by adults, such as parties • Mixed-gender groups arrange to go to some particular event together, such as a movie • Adolescent couples begin to date as pairs in activities such as movies, dinners, concerts and so on

5. Impact of Dating • Serious dating before age 15 has a stunting effect on psychosocial development • Age-appropriate Dating • Recreation - Fun and enjoyment • Learning - Becoming more skilled at dating interactions • Status - Impressing others according to how often one dates and whom one dates • Companionship - Sharing pleasurable activities with another person • Intimacy - Establishing a close emotional relationship with another person • Adolescent girls who do not date at all show • retarded social development • excessive dependency on parents • feelings of insecurity

6. Scripts • Expectations for how males and females behave in romantic relationships • Shaped by relationships at home • Shaped by the mass media

7. Proactive Script Males tend to follow this type of script Includes: initiating the date deciding where they will go controlling the public domain (driving the car) initiating sexual contact Reactive Script Females tend to follow this type of script Focuses on: Private domain (grooming & dress) Responding to the male’s gestures in the public domain Responding to his sexual initiatives Dating Scripts

8. Dating and Romantic Relationships • High school dating no longer functions as mate selection, now recreational • Romantic relationships are very common, in the past 18 months • 25% of 12-year-olds reported having one • 50% of 15-year-olds reported having one • 70% of 18-year-olds reported having one

9. Dating and Romantic Relationships • Dating and the Development of Intimacy • Dating can mean a variety of things • Group activities involving boys and girls • Casual dating in couples • Serious involvement in a steady relationship • Transitions into and out of romantic relationships can be difficult for adolescents • Breakups are the leading trigger for depression

10. Sternberg’s Theory of Love

11. Applying Sternberg to Adolescence • In most adolescent love relationships, commitment is either missing or highly tentative • The absence of long term commitment in adolescence means that there are two principal types of adolescent love: infatuation and romantic love Keep in Mind ….. In industrialized countries people are not likely to get married until they are in at least their mid- to late twenties Under these circumstances it is understandable that adolescents’ love relationship would not involve commitment as much as passion or intimacy

12. Falling in Love • Consensual validation • People like to find in others an agreement, or consensus, with their own characteristics • Finding this consensus supports, or validates, their own way of looking at the world • People of all ages tend to have romantic relationships with people who are similar to them in characteristics such as: • Intelligence • Social class • Ethnic background • Religious beliefs • Physical attractiveness

13. Sexual Activity

14. Ethnic Differences • The proportion of high school students in grades 9-12 who have had intercourse is: • Lowest for White adolescents (49%) • Somewhat higher for Latino adolescents (58%) • Highest for African American adolescents (73%) • Research has indicated that Asian Americans are considerably less likely to engage in sexual activity in adolescence compared with any other major American ethnic group

15. Cultural Beliefs and Adolescent Sexuality • Restrictive cultures: • Place strong prohibitions on adolescent sexual activity before marriage • Strict separation of boys and girls in early childhood through adolescence • Some countries will even include the threat of physical punishment and public shaming for premarital sex • Usually more restrictive for girls than boys • Semi-restrictive cultures: • Have prohibitions but they are not strongly enforced and are easily evaded • If pregnancy results from premarital sex, the adolescents are often forced to marry • Permissive cultures: • Encourage and expect adolescent sexuality • Sexual behavior is encouraged even in childhood and the sexuality of adolescence is simply a continuation of the sex play in childhood

16. Sexual Activity • Sexual Intercourse During Adolescence • By the end of sophomore year of high school, more than 40% have had heterosexual vaginal intercourse • For many girls (~25%), the first sexual experience is not voluntary

17. The Timing of Sexual Initiation • Adolescents are more likely to lose their virginity during certain times of the year • June and December are peak months • May, June, July common regardless of romantic involvement (prom, graduation) • Holiday season in December is peak time for serious relationships

18. Changes in Adolescent Sexual Activity Over Time • The percentage of sexually active adolescents increased during 1970s and 80s, decreased slightly from 1995 to 2001 • One-third of adolescents have early sexual intercourse (before ninth grade) • Greatest increase in prevalence of premarital intercourse has been among females

19. Trends in sexual attitudes • Premarital sexual activity acceptable • From 20% (1960) to 50% (1980) • Early adolescence sexual activity acceptable • 1/3 sexually active by 15 • 15% by 13 • Female sexual activity acceptable • 5x more females sexually experienced in high school

20. Sexually Active Adolescents • Psychological/Social Characteristics of Sexually Active Adolescents • Sexual activity during adolescence (age 16 or later) • Is not associated with psychological disturbance • Levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction are similar to other adolescents’ • However, early sexual activity (before age 16) has negative correlates like: • Experimentation with drugs and alcohol • Lower levels of religious involvement • Higher tolerance of deviant behavior • Lower interest in academic achievement • Higher orientation toward independence

21. What Influences Sexual Activity? • Hormones are especially important for boys • Testosterone surge sparks initial interest in sex for boys and girls (girls are also influenced by estrogens) • Boys who are more popular with girls and mature earlier tend to initiate sex earlier than unpopular boys • Biological factors have a very strong influence on boys’ sexual behavior • Context is especially important for girls • The most important predictor of girls’ involvement in sexual intercourse is whether their friends are doing it or have sexually permissive attitudes

22. Parents and sexual activity • Authoritative parenting • Later sexual activity • Less risky sexual activity • Parent-adolescent conflict • Earlier sexual activity • High-risk sexual activity • STD transmission • Pregnancy

23. Parents and sexual activity • Parent-child communication • Most effective • for females (rather than males) • with mothers (rather than fathers) • if communication of values/attitudes • for preventing risky sexual behaviors

24. Parents and sexual activity • Household composition • Adolescents in midst of divorce • Increase in risky behaviors generally • Females in single-parent home • Why females? • Social influences (parent control) • Mother likely to date (sexual role models) • Seeking alternative sources of support • Genetic • Men leave family/Women have sex early

25. Parents and sexual activity • Sensitive to sexual activity levels (“normative standards”) • Peers • Siblings • perceived or actual • Sexual initiation • More experienced adolescents with less experienced adolescents • Epidemic model • (e.g. Kids)

26. Ecological model • Individual-level factors • Intelligence • Drug use (risk behaviors) • Sexual abuse • Family-level factors • Single-parent homes • Poor parenting • Low SES • Extra-familial factors • Sexually active friends • Committed relationship • Low-quality neighborhood • Few positive school experiences

27. Peer Influences • Having sexually active peers establishes a normative standard that having sex is okay • Peers also can communicate directly about sex, with friends or with potential partners • Risk factors for sexual activity are cumulative

28. Sexually Active Adolescents • Characteristics of non-virgins • Similar self-esteem as virgins • Similar overall life satisfaction as virgins • More likely to be early maturing • Tend to have lower levels of academic performance and academic aspirations • Adolescents who have sex early (15 years old or younger) • Early users of drugs and alcohol • More likely to be from single parent households • More likely to have grown up in poverty

29. Contraceptive Use Among Sexually Active Adolescents • Many adolescents fail to use contraception regularly • Although rates have improved since 1970s, ~40% of high school students did not use a condom the most recent time they had sex • Contraception may not be readily available for all adolescents

30. Contraceptive Use and Nonuse • Why do most sexually active adolescents fail to use contraception consistently? • Think about: • Infrequency of sex • Cognitive development • Personal fable • Embarrassment

31. Contraceptive Use and Nonuse • Two types of countries have low rates of teenage pregnancy: • Those that are permissive about adolescent sex • Those that adamantly forbid adolescent sex Restrictive Countries Japan South Korea Morocco Adolescents are strongly discouraged from even dating It is rare for boys and girls to spend time alone together Permissive Countries Denmark Sweden Netherlands They have explicit safe sex campaigns. Adolescents have easy access to contraception

32. Teenage Pregnancy and Childbearing • Nearly one-third of American women become pregnant by age 20 • Not all pregnancies result in childbirth (~30% are aborted, ~15% miscarry) • 5% American teen births result in adoptions • America’s teen birth rate is higher than all other industrialized countries

33. What Causes Teen Pregnancy? • The most important difference between teens who become pregnant and those who do not is contraceptive use • 85% of teen pregnancies are unintended, but those who are less troubled by the prospect of having a baby at a young age are more likely to use contraceptives ineffectively • Ambitious, well-educated, middle- to upper-class women who live in wealthier areas are more likely to terminate an unwanted pregnancy

34. Notice how high the pregnancy rate is in the U.S. Compare this to Canada where sexual activity rates are the same but the pregnancy rate is about half Birth, Abortion, and Pregnancy

35. Facts about the “Facts of Life” • About 30% of pregnancies to American adolescents end in abortion • 14% of adolescents miscarry • Of the children who are born, only about 5% are put up for adoption …. That means about 50% of adolescents raise their own children (sometimes with the help of the father but most often with the help of the adolescent mother’s own mother)

36. In recent years, birth rates have become highest of all among Latina adolescents Black teens are twice as likely as White teens to get pregnant Teen Birth Rates

37. What about Mom? • Twice as likely to drop out of school • Less likely to go to college or become employed • Less likely to get married • More likely to get divorced if they get married • Do they catch up? (a sample of 300 mothers) • Five years after given birth teenage mothers still lagged behind their peers in educational, occupational and economic progress • After 18 years • 25% were still on welfare • 25% had succeeded in making it into the middle class • A majority had eventually completed high school • 33% had completed at least some college education

38. Interesting Footnote: Like adolescent mothers, the problems of adolescent fathers often began prior to parenthood What about Dad? • Being a teenage dad is related to a variety of negative outcomes • More likely to become divorced • Lower level of education • Lower paying job • More prone to drug and alcohol use • More likely to violate the law • More feelings of anxiety and depression

39. What about Baby? • Children born to adolescent mothers face a higher likelihood of a variety of difficulties in life • Babies are more likely to be born premature • Lower birth weight • Premature and low birth weight are related to a variety of physical and intellectual problems • Greater likelihood of behavioral problems • School misbehaviour, delinquency and early sexual activity It is important to note: These problems are not just due to having an adolescent mother but also due to the fact that most adolescent mothers are not only young and unmarried but poor as well

40. Sexually Transmitted Diseases • By age 24, one in three sexually active Americans have contracted an STD • Two thirds of all STDs occur in people who are under 25 years old • Two important characteristics of STDs • Asymptomatic • People show no symptoms of the disease • They are especially likely to infect others because neither they nor others realize that they are infected • Latency Period • There may be years between the time people are infected and the time they being to show symptoms • During this time they may be infecting others without either themselves or their partners being aware of it

41. Sexually Transmitted Diseases • Chlamydia • Most common STD • Highest rates among 15 to 19 year olds • Leading cause of female infertility • Gonorrhoea • Caused by bacteria that thrive in the moist mucous membranes of the body • Very easily passed along during sex • Females are at least twice as likely as males to become infected • Herpes Simplex • Caused by a virus • Has two variations: herpes simplex I and herpes simplex II • Highly infectious (75% of persons exposed to an infected partner will become infected) • There is no cure for herpes

42. Sexually transmitted diseases • HIV/AIDS • Strips the body of its ability to fend off infections • The body is highly vulnerable to a wide variety of illnesses and diseases • 90% of cases of HIV in the U.s. result from intercourse between homosexual or bisexual partners • Outside the U.S. HIV/AIDS is spread mainly between heterosexual partners • Has a long latency period (tend to by asymptomatic up to 5 years) • AIDS is the leading cause of death worldwide among persons 25 to 44 years old • 10 of every 11 new HIV infections worldwide come from Africa • The mortality rate for people who have AIDS remains extremely high

43. Sex Education • Americans agree that rates of premarital pregnancy and STDs in adolescence are serious problems that must be reduced • However there is vehement disagreement about what is the best solution • One side: comprehensive sexuality education • Other side: abstinence promotion • Result: Neither!

44. Focus narrowly on reducing one or more sexual behaviors Base the program on theoretical approaches for other risky behaviours Give a clear message about sexual activity and contraceptive use Provide basic, accurate information about risks and methods Include activities that teach how to deal with social pressures Model and provide practice in negotiation and refusal skills Use a variety of teaching methods Incorporate behavioral goals specific to age, culture and sexual experience Run the program over a sufficient period of time Train teacher, youth workers and peer leaders who believe in the program Sex Education10 characteristics that make programs work