Many U.S. parents unaware of teen sex, study finds

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Many parents seem to be in the dark about the sex lives of their adolescents, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

They found that 84 percent of parents they surveyed did not think their teenager was sexually active - despite a recent government study showing that nearly half of 9th through 12th graders aged 14 to 18 have had sex.

But 90 percent of the 1,600 mothers and fathers surveyed said they had started talking to their children about sex, most by the time they were 12 years old.

"While children are young, parents feel confident that they have control over their health and well-being. As the child enters his or her teen years, parents may feel less connected and unaware of all he or she is doing,” said Vaughn Rickert of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, which commissioned the survey.

“As such, it is important for parents to have a dialogue with their adolescent regularly to ensure their teen remains healthy and happy through the high school years.”

The national survey of parents of teenagers aged 14 to 18 found that 75 percent had discussed sexually transmitted infections with their children, and 88 percent said they had talked about the AIDS virus.

RACE, SELF-ESTEEM

Another study published on Thursday found that teaching African-American girls how to boost their self-esteem can help them better control their sex lives.

Black teenage girls are more likely have sex and are more at risk of sexually transmitted diseases than white girls the same age, said Laura Salazar of Atlanta’s Emory University.

Writing in the September issue of Prevention Science, Salazar said she found that black girls who liked themselves were better able to say no to unwanted sex or sex without a condom.

Such girls were therefore less likely to become infected with a sexually transmitted disease such as AIDS, syphilis or gonorrhea.

“We studied a group of 335 African-American girls who were already sexually active,” Salazar said in a statement.

“What we found was African-American girls with a stronger self-concept were better able to communicate with their sex partners, and subsequently better at refusing to have unwanted, unprotected sex.”

Educators and parents should look at boosting self-esteem among girls, Salazar said.

She measured self-esteem by asking girls to agree or disagree with statements such as “I feel that I have a number of good qualities” or “I feel a strong attachment toward black people.”

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