Reasons Teen Girls Begin
Having Sex Differ by Age
Excerpt By Melissa Schorr, Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenage girls have shifting motivations for losing their virginity as they move from their early to later teen years, researchers report.

``Among the same girls, reasons (for having sex) will change over the course of her adolescence,'' lead author Dr. Susan L. Rosenthal, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, told Reuters Health. ``It's critically important that interventions be different for 13- and 14 year-olds than 17- and 18-year olds. One size doesn't fit all.''

Early initiation of sexual behavior is associated with an increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases, as well as negative mental health outcomes, Rosenthal noted.

Rosenthal and her colleagues hoped that a better understanding of the reasons why girls become sexually active could help design interventions to encourage them to delay sexuality until they are emotionally and physically better prepared.

The researchers interviewed 127 sexually experienced teenage girls from the Midwest over 3 years. The girls were asked to choose the reason they had sexual intercourse their first time and the reason they had sex most recently. The findings were published in a recent issue of Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

``Girls who are young are having sex because they're curious, it makes them feel grown up, or their friends are,'' Rosenthal noted. ``Girls who are older are more likely to say they're in love, physically attracted to their partner or feeling romantic and emotionally close.''

The investigators found several factors were associated with girls who delayed intercourse, such as having parents who actively monitored their behavior and having a moral or religious upbringing.

``Parental supervision,'' Rosenthal said, ``needs to be developmentally appropriate--authoritative versus authoritarian. The trick is to provide structure and limits, while allowing adolescents to have independent beliefs.''

In addition, girls who sexually mature at a young age are at special risk of early sexual activity, Rosenthal pointed out.

``It's extra incumbent to have parents who provide supervision and give their kid negotiation skills,'' she said.

And programs aimed at getting teens to delay sex should take different tactics with young and older teen girls, the researchers conclude.

``If you want to get young girls to make decisions to not have intercourse, you need to attend to their curiosity about sex, find other outlets not placing them at a health risk, or you need to not expose them to so many things that create the curiosity,'' Rosenthal said.

Similarly, she added, discussions with older adolescents should focus on advice for making good decisions about whether to have intercourse while involved in healthy loving, relationships.

SOURCE: Sexually Transmitted Diseases 2001;28:527-532.

Reference Source 89

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