Teens who have sex also have regrets

By Jon Dougherty

Nearly two-thirds of teens who say they’ve had sexual relations in
the past would opt to wait at least until they finished high school if
they had it all to do over again.

According to a survey conducted last month by the

National
Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
and released Sunday, 63 percent of teenaged boys and girls who said they have had sexual intercourse now wish they had waited until they were older.

Of that overall figure, 55 percent of boys and over 72 percent of girls asked said they wish they had waited longer to have sex. And, the survey said, most older teens — 58 percent of those aged 15 to 17 years old — wish they had waited.

One quarter of teens — or about 24 percent — said young adults should practice abstinence and should not be granted access to birth control, while 21 percent said it’s OK for teens to be sexually active, as long as birth control is available and used.

Regarding who influenced their decisions about sex the most, more teens — 37 percent — said parents did, the highest category of respondents. Thirty percent said that friends influenced their sexual decision-making the most. An equal percentage — 11 percent — said the media and their religious communities are the most influential.

However, more teens said they have gotten information or advice about sex in the past month from the media than any other source. In fact, 61 percent of teens surveyed said the media has provided them with information or advice about sex in the past month; 57 percent said their friends have; and 55 percent said their parents.

An overwhelming number of respondents — nearly eight in ten, or 78 percent — said teens should not be sexually active, though the majority — 54 percent — said if teens were having sex, they should not do so without access to birth control.

Meanwhile, another two-thirds said they would not tell a sibling — a younger brother or sister — to have sex while still a teenager. If they were to have sex, though, the same number said they would tell a sibling at least to use protection to prevent disease.

Twenty-five percent said they would tell a sibling simply not to have sex until they were out of high school, while only 7 percent said they would tell a sibling or friend to have sex with another person “as long as you love the girl or guy.”

And, when asked to grade their school sex or abstinence education courses, 59 percent of teens gave them either an “A” or “B.”

“This poll is just the latest evidence that many teens are taking a more cautious attitude toward having sex,” said Sally Sachar, deputy director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. “It also makes clear that parents can — and must — play an active and continuing role in helping their children understand that sex can wait.”

Also released last week by the Campaign’s Youth Leadership Team was a fact sheet entitled “What Kids Want,” featuring a short collection of advice for parents, friends, siblings, the media, schools and faith communities.

The Campaign’s survey was entitled “Not Just Another Thing To Do: Teens Talk About Sex, Regret, and the Influence of Their Parents.” Fifty-one percent of respondents were male, 49 percent were female, and the median household income of teens who took part in the survey was $48,530.

Jon Dougherty

Jon E. Dougherty is a Missouri-based political science major, author, writer and columnist. Follow him on Twitter. Read more of Jon Dougherty's articles here.