I doubt that many teenagers will be able to convince their parents of this but it could make for some very interesting dinner time talk:
Early sex may not lead where we think it does.
Teens who start having sex at an early age may be less likely to engage in delinquent behavior in early adulthood than teens who wait until they are older to have sex, a new U.S. study finds.
The conclusion contradicts the widely held belief that early sexual activity is associated with later drug use, criminality, antisocial behavior and emotional problems.
We got a very surprising finding, particularly that early sex seems to forecast less antisocial behavior a few years later, rather than more,” said lead researcher Kathryn Paige Harden, a PhD candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia.
“There is a cultural assumption in the United States that if teens have sex early, it is somehow bad for their psychological health. But we actually found that teens who had sex earlier seem to have better relationships later. Now we want to find out why,” she said.
“Our hypothesis as a result of this finding is that teens who become involved in intimate romantic relationships early are having sex early and more often but that those intimate relationships might later protect them from becoming involved in delinquent acts.”
So many variations of such a discussion between parent and teenager are going through my mind that I couldn’t possibly unscramble them.
Well, of course, teenagers that are out having sex aren’t going to be out being juvenile delinquents! Duh.
If you had the choice between having sex and being a hoodlum, which would you choose? If you picked sex, would you be spending your time trying to hook up with someone or go out and cause societal trouble?
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never heard that having sex early leads to drugs, criminality, anti-social behavior, etc. They say it’s a widely held belief, but it’s news to me.
I can state with absolute certainty that had my parents discovered me engaging in premarital sex as a young teenager, they would have considered such behavior unacceptable. And if any of the girls I so very much wanted to have sex with during those years of my continued virginity had actually dropped their undies for me, and their parents found out, I might have ended up dead.
So we have defined delinquency down, from having sex as a young teen, to something else entirely…..
Not with my daughter, thank you very much. I plan to follow the example of the parents of those girls who would not f**k me, and promise severe harm to any boy who takes advantage of my daughter.