Parenting The Sexually Active Teenager – What Every Parent Needs To Know

Many parents have a good rapport with their children and feel that they are able to have open and frank discussions with their children. However, when it comes to sexual activity, many teenagers give out more information about their own personal sexual experiences on their MySpace page than they will ever give to their parents.

So when it comes to understanding the realities their teenagers’ experience, it often turns out to be very different from what the parents might have expected. For parents interested in knowing more about the type of online environment their teenagers actually live in, specifically when it comes to teen sex, knowing some vital statistics can help them become more proactive in their attempts to both connect and assist their child in overcoming peer pressure.

Many of the teens that do participate in premarital sex are those that have both self esteem and peer pressure issues. In many cases, teenagers hope these types of activities will aid them when it comes to social networking, only to be disappointed when their pre-marital activities actually causes even lower self esteem and negative peer approval.

Here are some recent statistics that will help to illustrate the prevalence of teen sex sexual activity among the same age groups.

Some teenagers think that oral sex counts as sex, while others do not think that participating in oral sex will count against one’s virginity or should count as a valid example of a sexual partner.

Every year, 10% of all women that become pregnant are between the ages of 15 and 19. In this same group, 1 in every 5 women will become pregnant as a result. Unintended pregnancies make up 78% of all accounted teen pregnancies. These teen pregnancies also go on to make up 25% of all unintended pregnancies each year.

Every year, almost one million teenagers get pregnant. Not surprisingly there are more than 500,000 births.

Due to their age and hormone levels, teenage girls are especially fertile. As a result, some experts state that a teenage girl has a 90% of becoming pregnant within one year – regardless of the frequency of the sexual activity - if she uses no pregnancy or birth control methods.

The other side of the coin is just as dismal when it comes to teenage boys acting as fathers. Statistically, the majority of teen age fathers leave when they find out that their girlfriend is pregnant.

And 78% of teenage pregnancies occur between unmarried couples. When compared to teenage mothers, the fathers of the babies are in most cases older than the mother by 1-5 years. In fact, 20% of the fathers are 5 years or older when compared to the mother of the child.

Between 1990 and 1996, the number of abortions as a result unplanned pregnancy due to teenage premarital sexual activity declined substantially. This was in part due to easier access for teens to obtain prophylactic medication and devices such as birth control pills and condoms.