A new study, conducted by Kathryn Paige Harden, a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia, contradicts earlier research reports and various concerns that teenage sex is emotionally and psychologically unhealthy, leads to drug use, criminality, antisocial behaviour and emotional problems.
The paper, ‘Rethinking timing of first sex and delinquency’, which was recently published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, examined 534 same-sex twin pairs; using data mined from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative study (of the United States) designed to assess adolescent health and risk behaviour. That data was gleaned from extensive surveys of teenagers, and collected in three waves between 1994 and 2002. Thus, by examining the activities of twins, the investigators were able to eliminate genetic and socio-economic variables that might otherwise influence teen behaviours.
The study reports that teens who engage in sex are more likely to develop stronger relationships in adulthood and that early sex does not lead to delinquent behaviour. This contradicts studies and analogies that had been conducted earlier; for example, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, reported in February 2007 that a large percentage of girls who engage in sex in their teen years, later feel ashamed and used. Psychologist David Walsh even went so far as to claim that early sex distorts one’s perception of what a relationship really is, making relationships seem purely physical, and thus making it impossible to have long lasting, trusting, communicative relationships in adulthood.
Harden claims that her studies showed that teens have better relationships in their adult years when they engage in sex early, contrary to commonly held notions that teen sex is psychologically unhealthy.
Kathryn Paige Harden said:
We got a very surprising finding, particularly that early sex seems to forecast less antisocial behavior a few years later, rather than more, there is a cultural assumption in the United States that if teens have sex early it is somehow bad for their psychological health, but we actually found that teens who had sex earlier seem to have better relationships later. Now we want to find out why.
In the next phase of the research, Ms. Harden plans to closely examine the contexts of early teen sexual activity, such as the types of relationships teenagers are having, the age of partners, where sex occurred, what were the reasons they had sex, and how long their relationships lasted. She and her colleagues will then try to relate that to later behaviours and attitudes.
Our hypothesis as a result of this finding is that teens who become involved in intimate romantic relationships early are having sex early and more often, but that those intimate relationships might later protect them from becoming involved in delinquent acts later. People assume there is an association between early sex and later delinquency. It could be because teen sex transgresses parental expectations and is seen as impulsive or influenced by peer pressure. But people’s concerns about early sex leading to delinquency may not be warranted.
Harden does acknowledge that early teen sex is linked to early pregnancy and disease, but these risks are not inevitable. She notes that in other Western countries, such as Australia, there are patterns and rates of teen sexual activity similar to the United States, but drastically lower rates of teen pregnancy. She attributes this to a poor level of sexual health knowledge in the United States, ineffective contraceptive use and lower abortion rates.
Posted by Jonathan in Psychology, Sociology