About 70 parents of parents with teenagers believe that sex outside marriage is wrong, according to a federally funded study from the Administration of Children and Families, an agency within the Health and Human Services Department. The majority of their children agreed with them.
- The survey asking for views about sex education was conducted by Abt Associates, a consulting firm, and involved 1000 pairs of adolescents ages 12 to 18 years old and their parents.
- When asked whether they agreed strongly or somewhat strongly with the statement, "having sexual intercourse is something only married people should do," 70% of parents and 53% of teens answered yes.
- Forty-seven percent of teens and 30% of parents disagreed.
The report found that churches, parents, and peers influenced teenagers' attitudes about sex and abstinence just as much or more than sex education classes at school.
Dr. Gary Scott, a research fellow at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, said that "while most parents and children oppose premarital sex, government programming to reduce unwanted adolescent pregnancies through abstinence education have mostly failed to steer teens away from the lingering temptation toward premarital sex."
Valerie Huber, Director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said that the research is showing that parents need to talk to their children about sex and "teens are listening even if they're pretending they're not."
Labels: relationships, sex
Posted By: Aspen Education Group
