One month ago, clinical psychologists at the University of Virginia released their clarion call report indicating that teens who have sex at an early age may be less inclined to exhibit delinquent behavior in adulthood than their abstinent peers.
The profile also strongly suggests that early sex may play a significant role in helping sexually active teens develop better social relationships later on.
Published in the current online edition of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, the finding contravenes the insistence of Religious-Righteous abstinence promoters who have preached, ad nauseam, that early teen sex leads inevitably to drug use, criminality, antisocial behavior and severe emotional problems.
The results are scientifically unimpeachable because the researchers analyzed data on 534 same-sex twin pairs gathered at three points in the U.S. over a seven-year -long period.
Commendable Methodology
By confining the study to identical twins, it eliminated the genetic and socio-economic variables that otherwise might impact adolescent behavior.
Although the psychologists admit that early teen sex can lead to unwanted pregnancy and STDs, these outcomes can be drastically reduced as they are in other Western countries, like Australia, where a far superior approach to safe sex and contraceptive use is the norm.
9 Are Smart, 41 Are Not
Virtually concomitant with the new sex study release was the news that our Democratic Congress has just allocated $58 million in additional funds for abstinence-only sex ed.
Only nine states currently have the good sense to refuse the federal funds because of their abstinence-only strings attached (California, Connecticut, Ohio, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin).
But, sad to say, 41 states toe the party line and continue to give us the dubious distinction of having the highest out-of-wedlock teen pregnancy rate in the industrial world.
Depends on Your Perspective
Planned Parenthood labels the federally-mandated program fear-and shame-based sex ed whereas the Religious Righteous calls reality-based sex instruction "anything goes" sex ed.
Perhaps this startling and most welcome new study will reveal who is right and who is wrong.
Mr. Akerley of Culver City may be reached at benakerley@aol.com
