Alarming Trends in Teen | Tween Sexual Behavior

RedTracker| Researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health report that by age 12, 12 percent of students in a large southeastern U.S. urban public school district had engaged in sexual intercourse. In this same sampling 7.9 percent of students 12 and under had engaged in oral sex and 6.5 percent in anal sex. 4 percent of the students 12 and under had engaged in all three types of sexual activity.

If I’m understanding these statistics correctly, about 1 in 5 students 12 or younger is sexually active. Unlike the researchers, I do not call 20% of age 12 or younger, a “small percentage” of students.

Making matters worse, one-third of the sexually active students reported not using a condom within the past three months, in connection with vaginal or anal sex. One-fourth of the students had four or more partners.

For the latest statistics on sexual pregnancy, HIV occurrence and stats on gender and race, read the entire story at Science Daily.

The reality of these concernful trends may be further complicated when it comes to condom useage. I wrote earlier today that recent online polls are confirming a shart dropoff in condom purchases among university students. It seems reasonable to believe that the domino affect will impact these young children as well, putting them at enormous risk on multiple fronts of physical, psychological and emotional-health related concerns.

It is also possible that we will see an increase in teen pregnancies, connected to the total bundle of behavioral changes associated with the economic recession. How sad. I have a fashion-related tag for ‘tweens’ but not a ‘sexual activity one’ … until today. Anne