Adolescent sexuality

[4] Though most female adolescents begin their sexual maturation process in normal, predictable ways, there may be concerns by parents and clinicians if the following become evident: One study from 1996 documented the interviews of a sample of junior high school students in the United States.

[8] Until their first act of sexual intercourse, adolescents generally see virginity in one of the following ways: as a gift, a stigma, or a normal step in development.

[24] In the Indian sociocultural milieu girls have less access to parental love, schools, opportunities for self-development and freedom of movement than boys do.

[26] In comparison, in the documentary, Let's Talk About Sex, a photographer named James Houston travels from Los Angeles to D.C. and to the Netherlands.

Most Dutch parents practice vigilant leniency,[28] in which they have a strong familial bond and are open to letting their children make their own decisions.

[30] Additionally, the idea of not conforming to typical male gender roles inhibited many boys from openly expressing their same-sex attraction.

For example, sub-Saharan Africa has a high proportion of teenage mothers whereas industrialized Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan have very low rates.

[46] Sexual conduct between adults/adolescents and adolescents younger than the local age of consent is generally illegal, aside from close-in-age exemptions or in jurisdictions where only sex between married couples is legal,[47] such as those in some Islamic countries.

Sexual relations with a person under the age-of-consent are generally a criminal offense in the jurisdiction in which the act was committed, with punishments ranging from token fines to life imprisonment.

Many different terms exist for the charges laid and include statutory rape, illegal carnal knowledge, or corruption of a minor.

In some jurisdictions, sexual activity with someone above the legal age-of-consent but beneath the age of majority can be punishable under laws against contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

[56] An example of how gender affects sexuality is when young adolescent girls state that they believe sex is a method used to maintain relationships when boys are emotionally unavailable.

Deborah Tolman is an advocate for this viewpoint and states that societal pressures to be "good" cause girls to pay more attention to what they think others expect of them than looking within themselves to understand their own sexuality.

This process leaves young girls unassertive about their own sexual desires and needs because they focus so much on what other people expect of them rather than on what they feel inside.

This double standard occurs when others judge women for engaging in premarital sex and for embracing their sexualities, while men are rewarded for the same behavior.

In Tolman's interviews, girls who sought sex because they desired it felt like they had to cover it up in order (for example, they blamed their sexual behavior on drinking) not to be judged by others in their school.

Common avenues for sex education are parents, caregivers, friends, school programs, religious groups, popular media, and public health campaigns.

Generally, they promote abstinence while educating their children with things that may make their adolescents not want to engage in sexual activity.

[77] The difference between these two approaches, and their impact on teen behavior, remains a controversial subject in the U.S.[78][79] Some studies have shown abstinence-only programs to have no positive effects.

Indonesia, Mongolia, South Korea and Sri Lanka have a systematic policy framework for teaching about sex within schools.

Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand have assessed adolescent reproductive health needs with a view to developing adolescent-specific training, messages and materials.

However, not having access to sexual education has been found to have negative effects upon students, especially groups such as adolescent girls who come from low-income families.

Researchers state that this view would empower girls because it would place less emphasis on them as the victims and encourage them to have more control over their sexuality.

[93] In 1988, two researchers from the University of North Carolina, Ronald Rindfuss and J. Richard Udry, submitted a proposal to The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to study the health-related risk behaviors of adolescents.

[94] The American Teen Study sought to reveal the importance of investigating the health-related risk-taking behaviors of youth by gathering data across various social contexts such as at home and school.

[94] Similarly, data suggests that heterosexual adolescents also engage in anal intercourse which can lead to an increase in the number of infected persons.

The first is that the research studies need to have large samples and thorough designs to cover the diverse populations of adolescents that range from various genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, races, and cultures.

[94] Second, there needs to be research that studies the interaction between various social contexts, such as riding in cars for enjoyment, and adolescent sexual-behaviors that leave youth susceptible to engaging in sexual-intercourse.

[94] The American Teen Study would have been utilized to conduct the type of research that would be needed to investigate the increasing rate of sexually-transmitted diseases among adolescents.

Without data from the study, it can be difficult for scientists to monitor the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases such as HIV and to develop techniques to decrease the increasing rate of infections.