A recent report showing that nearly one in five young teenagers
has had sex highlights the need for increased parental involvement in their
childrens lives, Richard Ross said.
“Far too many parents are hoping their words and perhaps
their example will be enough to positively shape the sexual behavior of their
kids,” said Ross, professor of student ministry at Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary and one of the founders of the True Love Waits sexual abstinence
campaign for young people.
A recent report showing that nearly one in five young teenagers
has had sex highlights the need for increased parental involvement in their
childrens lives, Richard Ross said.
“Far too many parents are hoping their words and perhaps
their example will be enough to positively shape the sexual behavior of their
kids,” said Ross, professor of student ministry at Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary and one of the founders of the True Love Waits sexual abstinence
campaign for young people.
“They hope this even while they neglect any kind of relationship
with those middle-schoolers. Career advancement, adult social lives, failing
marriages and a host of other preoccupations leave the kids stone cold empty
inside.”
Ross cited a recent report by the National Campaign to Prevent
Teen Pregnancy that found 18 percent to 19 percent of teens age 14 or younger
have had sex. Meanwhile, only 30 percent of parents of sexually-active 14-year-olds
believe their child had engaged in sex, the study found.
Ross said the report underscores the need for parental involvement
in teenagers lives. When that involvement is not forthcoming, teenagers
often will try to fill the emotional void with sex, he said.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy report had
other troubling findings as well.
For instance, it found that about half of 14-year-olds and
a third of 12-year-olds said they had been at a party without adult supervision.
Also, about a quarter of young teenagers who date say they have dated someone
who is at least two years older. Such relationships are much more likely to
involve sex, the report concludes.
The report offered a list of recommendations, including increased
parent-teenager discussion on sex.
“I can applaud that as a positive step,” Ross said.
“But to assume those conversations alone will change behavior is foolish.
Conversations will never have much power until parents reorder their priorities
and begin to rebuild heart connections with their own children. Students then
will begin to live chaste lives – not to age 14 – but to the marriage
altar.”
The recently-released report is based on data primarily collected
in the last 10 years. It is available in a seven-chapter report titled “14
and Younger: The Sexual Behavior of Young Adolescents.”
Specifically, the study found:
About 18 percent to 19 percent of 14-year-olds
have had sex. The number falls to 10 percent for 13-year-olds and 4 percent
to 5 percent for 12-year-olds.
Boys age 14 and younger are “slightly”
more likely to have had sex than girls who are the same age.
Sexually-active teenagers are more likely also
to drink alcohol, smoke and use illegal drugs. Forty-three percent of sexually-active
teenagers say they have smoked marijuana, compared to only 10 percent of teenagers
who report being virgins.
About half of young teenagers say they have been
on a date in the past 18 months.
Thirty-three percent of young teenagers who date
someone who is three or more years older say the relationship includes sex.
When the difference in dating age is two years, the percentage is 26 percent.
If the teenagers are the same age, the number drops to 13 percent.
Parents and youth disagree on whether they have
had a conversation about sex.
About one in seven sexually-active 14-year-olds reports having
been pregnant. (BP)