Sexed up teens

Girls, young women, females of less than voting age are more likely to have unprotected sex their first time out than their male counterparts. That’s what Nicole Weller, an Arizona State University graduate student discovered while working toward her PhD in sociology. Her research encompasses the relationship between early sex education and the onset of sexual activity. She revealed her findings at the American Public Health association Social Justice Meeting and Expo in Denver earlier this month.

“I’m looking at the interaction between sexual education and how it impacts young adolescent sexual behavior,” she said. “This in particular was an interesting finding because males usually report that they are having more sex than females.” More maybe, but apparently they protect themselves.

Her study will answer questions like:
- Are adolescents more likely to have unprotected or protected sex?
- Does it make any difference if they had sex education?
- Sex education provided by schools? Parents? Doctors? Some combination?
- And at what age should that sex ed start?

“In general, the younger that you are when you have sex, the more at risk you are of contracting a sexually transmitted disease,” Weller said. Early sex ed appears to be advantageous therefore and she is trying to find out if that is true.

“The younger one receives sexual education, the less likely you are to engage in risky sex,” Weller confirmed. Research also shows young people are waiting until they are older, but are more often foregoing sexual protection such as condoms. The age of contracting sexually transmitted diseases is decreasing as a result.

Source: Arizona State University, ScienceDaily