HIV ON TEENAGE EDUCATION

HIV on Teenage Education

HIV on Teenage Education

Sexual orientation appears to be influenced by an interaction of biological and environmental factors and to be at least partly genetic. The course of homosexual identity and relationship development may vary from cohort, gender, and ethnicity. Sexual attraction seems to begin at about age 10, when the adrenal glands increase their hormonal output.

Although teenage sexual activity nowadays is more prevalent than in the past, it still involves risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Adolescents at greatest risk are those who begin sexual activity early, have multiple partners, do not use contraceptives, and are ill-informed about sex. In Western contemporary societies, it is thought that regular condom use is the best safeguard for sexually active teens. Comprehensive sex education programs delay sexual initiation and encourage contraceptive use.

Sexually transmitted diseases are those that spread by sexual contact. Sexually transmitted diseases include chlamydia, trichoniasis, gonorrhea, human papillomavirus (HPV) (genital warts), herpes, hepatitis B, syphilis, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or AIDS. Sexually transmitted diseases can be transmitted by oral sex as well as intercourse. They are more likely to develop undetected in girls than in boys. Rates of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States are among the highest in the industrialized world.

The decision to become sexually active represents a major personal commitment that has important consequences. Nowhere is the importance of this decision more clearly seen than in the case of teenage pregnancy in the United States. The teenage pregnancy rate in the United States is more than 90 pregnancies per 1,000 girls, and that rate is over double the rate for Great Britain, Canada, France, Australia, and Sweden. Teenage pregnancy and birthrates in the United States have declined in the last decade. Teenage childbearing often has negative outcomes. Teenage mothers and their families tend to suffer ill health and financial hardship, and the children often suffer from ineffective parenting.

Birth rates for 15- to 19-year-old girls in the United States fell by one-third between 1991 and 2003 to 41.7 births per 1,000 girls in that age group, the lowest rate in more than 60 years. Birthrates for unmarried teenagers, who bear about 81 percent of all babies born to adolescent mothers, also have declined since 1994, especially among younger teens. The vast majority (88 percent) of births to teenagers aged 17 and younger result from unintended pregnancies. Effective procedures for encouraging teenagers not to be sexually active include teaching teenagers to understand the problems of sexual activity.

Adolescent sexual behavior, especially for women, often carries a negative connotation. Researchers and policymakers often make the connection between a younger age of first sexual intercourse and increased risks of unwanted teen pregnancy rates, increased risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS, ineffective sex education programs, and a harsher “reputation,” especially to young women.

Research has found that persons who have sex at a younger age tend to have more nonvoluntary sex partners, to have more sex partners, to have more frequent intercourse, to be less likely ...