Study Addresses Hysteria Surrounding Teen Sex

You’ve probably heard or read something in the past few years about the newest “teen sex epidemic.” Record numbers of adolescents are having oral and anal sex, and doing so in part because they think that by avoiding vaginal sex they remain virgins.

Or so we’ve been told across countless magazine and newspaper articles, network and cable news specials. In fact we keep hearing this “news” despite the attempt of cooler heads, those who actually study adolescent sexuality, pointing out that we don’t have the numbers to back up the panic.

Thankfully a new study, to be published in the July issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health (and currently available for free here) is offering some numbers. And, not surprisingly, the data point to a more complicated and less salacious reality for today’s American teens.

The study set out to examine “non-coital” adolescent sexual behaviors, defined by the researchers as mutual masturbation, oral sex, and anal sex, using data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. This nationally representative household survey included responses from over 2500 adolescents (aged 15-19) about sexual behaviors and is the first time that the Federal government specifically asked about oral and anal sex. Questions about sex were asked during face-to-face interviews and via a self-administered survey done on a computer.

Below are some of the most compelling survey results. Unfortunately, apparently due to the way that questions were asked (and not asked) data is only given for heterosexual sexual activities.

How common is oral, vaginal, and anal sex among adolescents?
Overall, 55% of adolescents have engaged in heterosexual oral sex, 50% have engaged in vaginal sex, and 11% have engaged in anal sex. The oral and vaginal numbers include both giving and receiving, the anal sex question did not specify. These numbers don’t differ significantly for women or men when compared to earlier surveys.

Are adolescents engaging in oral or anal sex instead of vaginal sex?
The data from this study suggest the answer is no. The strongest predictor of having oral or anal sex is whether or not the teen has already had vaginal sex. From the paper: “Relative to adolescents who had not had vaginal sex, those who had sex within zero to six months of the survey were 9 times more likely to have had oral sex, and this effect was incremental. Adolescents who had had vaginal sex more than three years prior to the interview were 33 times more likely than those who had not had vaginal sex to have had oral sex.”

Rainbow parties: fact or fiction?
One of the most heavily hyped narratives about teen sex involves young women avoiding vaginal sex by giving oral sex to multiple partners either at the same time (the so-called rainbow parties) or over time. In either case the data don’t support the story. Most adolescents (67%) who had engaged in oral sex but not vaginal sex had only one partner. Only 8% of adolescents who had oral but not vaginal sex reported four or more partners.

Which comes first?
Unfortunately the survey did not ask about timing of first oral or anal sex experience. But the data are still able to shed some light on the relationship between vaginal, oral, and anal sex. In particular, those who had vaginal sex were more likely to have had other kinds of sex. For example, while 87% teens that had vaginal sex also had oral sex, only 23% of teens who hadn’t had vaginal sex had oral sex. Similarly, 21% of teens who had vaginal sex had also had anal sex while only 1% of teens who hadn’t had vaginal sex reported having had anal sex.

Are there gender differences?
Overall adolescents reported receiving oral sex more than giving it. The only significant gender difference was among teens giving oral sex. 44% of women and 39% of men reported giving oral sex. There was no significant difference between males and females in terms of reporting receiving oral sex. There was also no significant difference in giving or receiving oral sex among the 22% of teens who had oral but not vaginal sex. This finding does support an element of the teen sex narrative, that girls are giving more than they are getting. But it also raises questions about what the discrepancy means.

• Is part of the discrepancy related to the fact that they didn’t ask about same-sex oral sex activities? Are we missing a group of boys who are engaging in oral sex with other boys?
• Is part of the discrepancy tied to the age of the males on the receiving end? The survey data is only for people aged 15-19. If females are giving oral sex to males over the age of 19, the partner data isn’t reflected in the numbers.
• Does part of the discrepancy reflect a stigma associated with giving vs. receiving oral sex? Is it cool to get it but not to give it? If so are people under reporting one and over reporting the other?

The researchers note that among adults in the same survey more people report receiving than giving, although the difference is smaller. This could support the idea of stigma influencing reporting.

Important Implications
This excellent study points to the need for more research and a more concentrated and thoughtful approach to supporting the sexual health of adolescents. It goes a long way to painting a larger picture of adolescent sexuality, one that answers more questions than just are they doing it, and when did they start doing it. For example, in the data analysis the researchers considered number of sexual partners to include vaginal, oral, and anal sex partners (usually “sex” is only defined by vaginal sex). And while they use the term “virgin” to distinguish those who had vaginal sex, they point out that this is not necessarily the only useful definition of the term (again, a rarity in papers on adolescent sexuality).

As the authors point out, the study also has limitations. Not least of which is the fact that only heterosexual behaviors were reported and analyzed. As always, studies of sexual behavior likely suffer from lack of honesty in reporting. This study did offer a little data on this. Participants were asked questions about vaginal sex in both the face-to-face interview and on the self-administered computer survey. 6% of women and 5% of men gave answers that didn’t match. Of course we still don’t know what the discrepancy means, and the authors didn’t say whether the numbers were higher or lower in the face-to-face interview, but it gives us something to consider.

Related:

• Teen Sex Statistics
• Teen Sexuality
• Talk With Your Teen About Sex

Previously – If You Bury Your Head in the Sand, Can You Hear the Elitists Screaming? ; National Study Shows Comprehensive Sex Ed. More Effective ; Abstinence-only programs don’t help, but do they hurt? ; Is Sex Ed. Enough? .