What's the story with teens and sex; are things getting worse or better?

jeanjolie

It seems that the media and society is giving mixed messages.

Shows like 16 and Pregnant, The Secret Life of the American Teen, various teen shows on Nickelodeon etc... all seem to give this idea that teens are more promiscuous than they were in the past. Usually a good number baby boomers or Gen X'ers (aside from the conservative Christians), are complaining that 'liberal parenting and society' is responsible for sexualization of women, skimpy outfits and the enormous increase in casual sex.

However, many scientific journals, psychologists and sociologists say that teenage pregnancy is at it's all time low and teenagers are having less sex than they were in the past. The misconception that teens waited longer to have sex is false as many married young and most Christian couples during the 50s, 60s, 70s, all had sex outside marriage.

Focusing on Ireland today vs in the past, is this trend the same? Are teens today getting less pregnant and having less casual sex than their counterparts in pre-industrial Ireland (pre 90s)

Peregrinus

Well, teen birth rates have fallen since the 1990s.

Interesting, teen abortion rates, as measured by people having abortions in the UK who report an Irish address) have also fallen, and at pretty much the same rate.

Which suggest that, overall, teen pregnancy rates have been trending downwards.

This doesn't necessarily mean that teens are having less sex. It could also be that teens are having sex more responsibly - i.e. they are using contraception more consistently and effectively (which perhaps would be associated with less casual sex, which is one of the things you are asking about). Or it could be a combination of both things.

For what it's worth, internationally figures sugggest that in developed countries age of first intercourse, having fallen steadily from the 1960s to the 1990s, has been rising modestly since the 1990s or 2000s. I don't know if this is also true in Ireland, but let's assume it is. This doesn't necessarily mean that teens are having less sex overall; it could also mean that they are starting later but, once they start, they have more regular sex.

Putting all the trends together, the picture they suggest to me is:

1. There's less casual sex than there used to be - less sex with people you have just met, people you don't know, people you are not in a relationship with. That's so 70s, darling; the AIDS crisis changed attitudes to that.

2. There's less stigma associated with pre-marital sex than used to be the case, and a greater acceptance of the likelihood of sex within a relationship.

3. When teens start having sex, it's more likely to be in the context of a relationship to which they are somewhat committed. Which means, once they have started, they are more likely to have regular sex. Plus, they are more likely to be consistent and responsible in the use of contraception. Not 100%; after all, they are teenagers. But (a) they are older teenagers, and (b) they are less burdened by feelings of guilt which lead them to be in denial about the fact that they are in a regular sexual relationship, and all of this makes sexual responsibility that bit easier. All of this would help to explain falling teen pregnancy/abortion/birth rates, without necessarily assuming less sex happening.

in 2006, the median age of first intercourse for men and women in Ireland who were then under age 25 - i.e. people whose first intercourse happened between 1995 and 2005 - was 17. (I don't have a more up-to-date figure.) What that suggests is that a substantial minority of people, even then, did not have "teen sex" at all, if we take teen sex to mean sex before age 18. So, while teen sex is perfectly normal, it's also perfectly normal for teenagers not to have sex.

Permabear

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