Parents play a vital role in communicating to their children about sex. When asked who their top two role models are, the majority of teens respond with parents and teachers. Teenagers are looking for direction in their lives, and often times parents aren’t responding.
A child’s connection with parents is the single most important factor contributing to the avoidance of unhealthy risk behaviors.
-National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
Factors Associated with Delaying the Onset of Sex:
- A pledge of virginity by the adolescent
- Parent(s) disapproval of adolescents using birth control*
- Parent(s) disapproval of adolescents having sex*
- Parent-family connectedness*
- School connectedness
- Higher grades
*Factors that involve parents
Source:
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 1997
- More than 25 sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) affect approximately 15 million men and women in the United States each year
- STD’s usually have no symptoms, particularly in women
- Nearly 2/3 of all STD’s occur in people younger than 25 years of age
- The yearly cost to society of kids age 17 or less having children is $29 billion
- No hormone-containing methods of birth control (pills, patches, etc.) protect against STD’s
- Condoms have the highest pregnancy rate of the leading contraceptive methods
- Abstinence and sexual intercourse with one mutually faithful uninfected partner are the only totally effective prevention strategies.
(Iowa Department of Public Health, 2003)
(Robin Hood Foundation, 1999)
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1999)
- The teen birth rate is down 30% from the most recent high in 1991
- Abstinence accounted for 67% of the decrease in single teen pregnancies
(Centers for Disease Control and prevention, 2003)
(Adolescent and Family health, 2003)