New Teen Sexual Encounters Study Finds Complicated Answers

A fascinating new study to be published in the March issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health by Indiana University School of Medicine Adolescent Medicine researchers brings some much needed thoughtfulness to the topic of teen sexuality.

The study examined factors associated with the time of day of sexual activity among adolescent women. Researchers followed 106 adolescent women between the ages of 14 and 18 years through annual questionnaires and daily diaries.

"I think the take-home message from this study is that more than simple public health solutions are needed to alter such complex behavior," principal author J. Dennis Fortenberry, M.D., M.S., professor of adolescent medicine and a researcher with the Mid-America Adolescent STD Cooperative Research Center, said in a prepared release.

The study is exciting in the complexity it finds behind teenage sexual behavior.

Some of the findings include:

• Sexual intercourse among adolescent women is relatively infrequent, occurring on about 12 percent of days, according to their study diaries.
• Teen girls reported they were twice as likely to engage in sexual intercourse in the evenings as after school, according to research by
• Intercourse during unsupervised afternoon times accounts for less than one-third of all intercourse events and was less likely to occur on school days than on vacation days
• Parental supervision reduced the likelihood of afternoon sex but did not affect the frequency of evening/night sex.

"This data reveals that more than just opportunity plays a role in the frequency of sexual activity among teens," said Dr. Fortenberry

"Perhaps the most important message from the analyses is the complexity of adolescent sexuality and adolescent sex," said Dr. Fortenberry. "Public health problems are most easily resolved when only a single risk factor is involved. The conflicts and issues in this research show the multifaceted issues of teen sexuality and may explain why sex and its untoward health consequences have proven resistant to simple interventions, including those focused only on sexual abstinence."

When it comes to teenage sexuality, both parents and policy/lawmakers tend to react on emotion and opinion, rather than on empirical evidence. While Dr. Fortenberry cautions against generalizing from this study, it is an important piece in the puzzle of what is actually going on for teens as they navigate their way through important sexual development.

Read more - Teen sexual encounters not only a result of unsupervised afternoons

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