“Fewer U.S. Teens Report Being Sexually Active.” That’s the headline today from Reuters Health based on a 10-year study just published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Indeed from 1992 – 2002, there was a dramatic decline in the number of teens having sex.
For example, in 1992, 56 percent of girls and 61 percent of boys 15 to 19 years old claimed to have had sex. In 2002, those percentages dropped to 47 percent of girls and 46 percent of boys (as shown by data compiled by the National Survey of Family Growth).
What was one of the reasons cited for this decline? Parents who consistently set the standard of sexual abstinence at home! In fact, look at any survey of teens when asked whom they look to first and foremost for direction on any issue (including sex) and the overwhelming response is their parents.
That’s why parents must be the #1 director in their teens’ lives. I believe it’s our job as parents to set the boundaries. It’s our teens’ job to test those boundaries! It’s our job to keep them within those boundaries. And deep down inside, where do you think most teens really want to be in the first place? They want to be within the boundaries.