Aspire Research Notes

With One Voice

America's Adults and Teens Sound Off About Teen Pregnancy

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Summary

PARENTS

Parents are more powerful than they think.

Over two decades of good social science research—and the National Campaign’s own polling over the years—make clear that when it comes to teens’ decisions about sex, parents are more influential than they think. Our survey findings this year continue to underscore an important disconnect between parents and teens. Simply put, teens say their parents (37%) influence their decisions about sex more than other likely suspects, including friends (33%), the media (5%), or siblings (6%). Parents, however, underestimate their own influence (only 28% said that parents most influence their teens’ decisions about sex) and overestimate the importance of such influences as peers (47%) and the media (12%).

The sex talk. Nearly all teens (87%) and adults (91%) agree that it would be easier for teens to delay sex and prevent teen pregnancy if teens were able to have more open, honest conversations about these topics with their parents. However, nearly four in ten teens (37%) report that they have not had such a conversation with their parents.

Parents need help. One explanation for why conversations between parents and teens are not taking place is that parents don’t know what to say. Nine in ten adults surveyed agree that parents should talk to their kids about sex but often don’t know what to say, how to say it, or when to start the conversation.

T E E N AT T I T U D E S A N D B E L I E F S

Cautious attitudes. Media stories and anecdotal reports from many of those who work directly with teens have painted a rather bleak picture concerning teens and sex. Tales of a teen “hook-up” culture—where sex is casual and often traded like a commodity—are legion. These stories stand in stark contrast with data indicating that sexual activity among high school students is on the decline and that teen pregnancy and birth rates have dropped nearly one-third since the early 1990s. This dichotomy leads many observers to wonder exactly what is going on in teen culture. Our survey results indicate that teens continue to take a more cautious attitude toward casual sex than perhaps media headlines would have us believe. For example:

• Sex can wait. Nearly seven in ten teens do not think it’s okay for high school teens to have sexual intercourse (this includes 59% of older teens aged 15-19).
• Most sexually experienced teens wish they had waited longer. Two-thirds of all sexually experienced teens (63% of boys and 69% of girls) said they wish they had waited longer to have sex.
• The magic number is zero. When asked about an appropriate number of sexual partners for teens to have, the clear majority of adolescents surveyed (56%) said “none.”
• Relationships and sex. Fully 85% of teens surveyed said that sex should only occur in a long-term, committed relationship. Support for this position was consistent across the board—boys (83%), girls (88%) teens aged 15-19 (83%), and teens aged 12-14 (89%) all agreed that sex should only happen within long-term relationships.

ABSTINENCE AND CONTRACEPTION

Support for strong abstinence messages is overwhelming. Nearly all teens (94%) and adults (91%) believe that teens should be given a strong message from society that they should not have sex until they are at least out of high school. Support for providing teens with a strong abstinence message has remained rock solid (90% or better) in every National Campaign survey conducted since 1997.

Support for providing adolescents with information about contraception—and access to contraception for those teens who are sexually active—also remains strong and consistent. Most adults (75%) and teens (81%) wish young people were getting more information about abstinence and contraception. Very few (only 1% of adults and 2% of teens) believe teens are getting enough information on these topics. Most adults (86%) and teens (81%) believe that teens should not have sex. (see chart 6). Only 12% of adults and 18% of teens think it is okay for teens to have sex as long as they have access to contraception. The clear middle ground position for most of those surveyed (67% of adults and 57% of teens) is that teens should not have sex, but those who do should have access to contraception.

What mixed message? Some adults remain concerned that encouraging teens to abstain from sex while also providing them with information about contraception sends young people a confusing, mixed message that might inadvertently give teens tacit approval to have sex. About half of adults (51%) and two thirds of teens (68%) do not believe that providing adolescents with such a message encourages them to have sex. Still, a significant minority of adults (41%) thinks that such a message does encourage teens to have sex.

Morals, values, and the role of religion

The role of morals and values. Teen pregnancy prevention is often seen as a reproductive health issue—a problem solved with some combination of information and health services for teens. Our survey results suggest that while health information and services are an important influence on teens’ decisions about sex and preventing teen pregnancy, young people’s own morals and values are equally—if not more-influential. Six out of ten teens (64%) say morals and values are equally as important as health information and services in influencing teen sexual behavior and preventing teen pregnancy, while nearly one quarter of teens (23%) say that morals and values are more influential than health information and services. By contrast, 9% of teens believe that health information and services are more influential. Interestingly, older teens (28%) are more likely than younger adolescents (15%) to say morals and values are most influential.

Teens and adults want religious leaders and groups to do more. Strong majorities of teens (71%) and adults (65%) agree that religious leaders and groups should be doing more to help prevent teen pregnancy. Support is strong among whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics, and in all regions of the country, for greater involvement of faith communities in preventing teen pregnancy.

G E N D E R D I F F E R E N C E S

Making the move. Visitors to the National Campaign’s website, past and present members of our own Youth Leadership Team, interactions with teens nationwide, and research from other organizations, including MEE Productions (see This is My Reality at www.teenpregnancy.org) have all suggested that teen girls “pursue” as much as they are “pursued.” Our survey lends support to this notion—over half of teens (57% of boys and 51% of girls) believe that teen girls are as sexually aggressive as teen boys. Another one in ten characterize teen girls as more sexually aggressive than boys.

It’s a guy thing. The majority of adults (64%) and teens (70% of girls and 53% of boys) believe that teen boys often receive the message that sex and pregnancy are not a “big deal.”

As for the girls... Most adults (a sobering 79%) and teens overall (63% of boys and 67% of girls) agree that teen girls often receive the message that attracting boys and looking sexy is one of the most important things teenage girls can do. Over half of young teen girls (56% of those aged 12-14) and seven in ten older girls (74% of those aged 15-19) agreed.

Media

Media is influential—often in surprising ways. Recent research conducted by the RAND Corporation and published in the journal Pediatrics (Volume 114, number 3, September 2004,  www.pediatrics.org) underscores what common sense suggests: What teens see, hear, and read in the media influences their sexual behavior. The RAND study concludes that adolescents who watch significant amounts of sexual content on television are twice as likely as those who watch a limited amount of sexual material to begin having sexual intercourse in the ensuing year. The report also notes, however, that television can play a positive role by showing the risks and consequences of sexual activity and by providing parents with an opportunity to express their own views about what the media portrays.

Adults and teens in our survey seem to recognize the power of the media and view the media as an effective way to start conversations between parents and teens; yet few parents of teens actually use the media as a way to discuss sex, love, and relationships with their teens. In our survey, we note the following:

• Eight in ten adults (84%) and teens (82%) wish the media showed more/talked more about the consequences of sex.
• Half of adults (49%) and two-thirds of teens(68%) agree that teen pregnancy rates in the United States have declined due, in part, to increased media attention to the issue.
• Nearly equal percentages of parents of teens (72%) and teens (76%) agree that TV shows and other media are a good way to start conversations between parents and their children about sex, love, and relationships. Yet only 22% of parents of teens said that something in the media in the past year sparked a conversation between them and their children about the consequences of sex.

SUPERV I S I O N

Where are the adults? About four in ten (41%) of those surveyed in grades 9-12 report that they have been at an evening or late night party in the past six months where there were no adults in the house. One reason that this finding is of some concern is because two-thirds of teens report that they first had sex in their own home or the home of a friend (see Science Says: Where and When Teens First Have Sex at www.teenpregnancy.org/works).

SEX EDUCATION

A passing grade. Parents of teens are much more critical of sex education than teens themselves. When asked to assign a letter grade to the school-based sex education or “family life” classes their children receive, only one quarter of adults (26%) gave the class an A or a B while 16% rated the classes below average or failing. By contrast, 59% of teens gave their sexed classes an A or B and only 12% said the classes were below average or failing.

Marriage matters. Most adults (83%) and teens (85%) believe that teen pregnancy prevention programs should teach young people to be married before they have a child.

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