Abstract
This study of 1228 parochial students in the eastern United States answered questions about adolescent sexuality. Few of the students surveyed claimed that sex was forced or even pressured. Over half of the students reported “going steady” as their relationship status when experiencing their first intercourse. Another fourth reported that they were “dating” or “knew each other well.” Approximately one-fifth of the students reported that drugs or alcohol was used at the time of first sex and three-fourths of them had first sex at either their own home or a friend's home. Nearly half of the students wished they had waited longer before having sex, especially the females and the more religious students. One-half of the nonvirgin students in the sample reported having had only one sexual partner. The implications of this information for setting social policy, designing and implementing effective sex education programs are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bentler, P. M., and Newcomb, M. D. (1986). Personality, sexual behavior, and drug use revealed through latent variable methods.Clin. Psychol. Rev. 6: 363–385.
Bingham, C. R. (1989). AIDS and adolescents: Threat of infection and approaches for prevention.J. Early Adolesc. 9: 50–66.
Brooks-Gunn, J., and Furstenberg, F. F. (1989). Adolescent sexual behavior.Am. Psychol. 44: 249–257.
de Gaston, J. F. (1993). Religiosity and adolescent sexuality. Unpublished manuscript presented at NCFR.
Gibbs, J. T. (1986). Psychosocial correlates of sexual attitudes and behaviors in urban early adolescent females: Implications for intervention.J. Social Work Human Sexual. 54: 81–97.
Herlitz, C. (1993). Sexual behavior in the general population of Sweden.Social Sci. Med. 36: 1535–1540.
Jensen, L. C., and de Gaston, J. F. (1994).Sensible Sex Education: A Handbook for Educators and Parents.
Jensen, L. C., de Gaston, J. F., and Weed, S. E. (1994). Sexual activity among suburban and urban midwestern adolescents: Implications for public policy. Unpublished manuscript.
Kelly, J. A., St. Lawrence, J. S., and Brasfield, T. L. (1991). Predictors of vulnerability to AIDS risk behavior relapse.J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 59: 163–166.
Kingsley, L. A., Detels, R., Kaslow, R., Polk, B. F., Finaldo, C. R., Chmiel, J., Detre, K., Kelsey, S. F., Odaka, K., Ostrow, D., Van Raden, M., and Visscher, B. (1987). Risk factors for seroconversion to human immunodeficiency virus among male homosexuals.Lancet 1: 345–349.
Koyle, P. F. C., Jensen, L. C., Olsen, J. A., and Cundick, B. (1989). Comparison of sexual behaviors among adolescents having an early, middle, and late first intercourse experience.Youth Society 20: 461–478.
Lewin, B. (1982). The adolescent boy and girl: First and other early experiences with intercourse from a representative sample of Swedish school adolescents.Arch. Sex. Behav. 2: 417–428.
Maticka-Tyndale, E. (1991). Modification of sexual activities in the era of AIDS: A trend analysis of adolescent sexual activities.Youth Society 23: 31–49.
Sonenstein, F. L., Pleck, J. H., and Leighton, C. K. (1991). Levels of sexual activity among adolescent males in the United States.Family Plan. Perspect. 24: 162–167.
Taylor, M. E., Wang, M. Q., Jack, L., Jr., & Adame, D. D. (1989, April/May). Effects of contraceptive education on adolescent male contraceptive behavior and attitudes.Health Educat. 12–17.
Weed, S. E., Klaus, H., and de Gaston, J. F. (1992a).Report of the Teen-Star Program. Unpublished client report.
Weed, S. E., Olsen, J. A., de Gaston, J. F., and Tanas, R. (1992b).Teen-Aid Report, Institute for Research and Evaluation.
Weed, S. E., Olsen, J. A., de Gaston, J. F., and Prigmore, J. (1992c, December).Predicting and Changing Teen Sexual Activity Rates: A Comparison of Three Title XX Programs. Report submitted to Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs Department of Health and Human Services Washington, DC, and Utah Department of Education, Salt Lake City, UT.
White, S. D., and DeBlassie, R. R. (1992). Adolescent sexual behavior.Adolescence 27: 183–191.
Young, E. W., Jensen, L. C., Olsen, J. A., and Cundick, B. P. (1991, Winter). The effects of family structure on the sexual behavior of adolescents.Adolescence 26: 977–986.
Zelnik, M., and Shah, F. (1983). First intercourse among young Americans.Family Plan. Perspect. 15: 64–70.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received Ph.D. in family studies/family science, Brigham Young University in 1994. Research and writing interests include adolescent sexuality and related problems, character education, and parenting.
serving a sabbatical at BUY—Hawaii currently. Received Ph.D. in psychology at Michigan State in 1966. Research interests concern gender issues, parenting, and adolescent problems.
In 1978 received Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Washington. Research interests include adolescent problems and social policy.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
de Gaston, J.F., Jensen, L. & Weed, S. A closer look at adolescent sexual activity. J Youth Adolescence 24, 465–479 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537192
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01537192