teen sex

Should a mom provide condoms for her son or not? What about dealing with times she knows her son and a girlfriend will have a house to themselves? Where's the line between "condoning" sex and being a sexually-supportive parent?

Headlines about a new study seem to suggest that the research found a connection between teen sex and brain development.  It did, just not in humans. 

"Clueless or Clued-Up: Your Right to Be Informed About Contraception,” a new survey of teens in 29 countries was released yesterday in honor of World Contraception Day.  The findings are not surprising but they are alarming as the survey confirms that young people worldwide lack information about and access to contraception and are having unprotected sex.

In the last few weeks, I learned that Bristol Palin was on the pill and all of the stars of 16 and Pregnant used condoms.  I find this slightly curious because, as we know, all of them ended up parents before they graduated from high school. If I didn’t know any better, I would start to wonder if contraception just doesn’t work.  But since I do know better, I am instead left wondering if the media is letting our most famous teen get one over on us and in the process perpetuating myths and misunderstandings about birth control.

Efforts in the United States to address adolescent sex have been directed toward preventing teenage sex as opposed to preventing its adverse consequences.  These efforts probably have been unsuccessful in stemming sexual activity because teenagers have a hormonal imperative to explore their sexuality. 

For years, research on adolescent sex was so entrenched in a risk perspective that “adolescent sexual health” was an oxymoron. Today, a new science of adolescent sexual heath is emerging that may help us look beyond risk.

Maria Talks, a website with frank sexual health information for young people, suddenly has a lot of critics who think it's too explicit. I talk with one of the websites creators to get her take on the site and the controversy.

The new film Let's Talk About Sex was created with the intention of sparking public dialogue about and family communication on teen sex and sexuality issues. Here's my take on whether the film is giving the right message to the right audiences.

This article is part two in a series on facts and realities of teen sexual behavior in the United States.  Here, we take an even closer look at what the data in a recent report is telling us about teen sexual behavior.

New data suggest there are more "teen virgins."  Are there? Well....kind of.....