Parenting Plays Large Role in Teenagers Sexual Choices

Imagining one’s self being a CEO of a large financial services company in the midst of an economic downturn could oftentimes seem less daunting to some people than handling a 2 year old toddler having a massive tantrum at the grocery store in the middle of the frozen food section. It is no secret that being a parent is one of the most rewarding and challenging endeavors we could ever encounter. From the second that baby emerges into the world, worry is heaped upon worry in the same vein that joy is heaped upon joy. Parents will never stop questioning their abilities to nurture during the infant and toddler years and their disciplining tactics when that baby becomes a young adult. Now, to add to existing worries, recent research has shown that strict parenting could actually increase sexual activity in young adults.

According to research from this study, while there is no set-in-stone evidence that parents who are more controlling will immediately have kids who have more sex, the findings seem to advise that parents should allow their children a bit more freedom in comparison to being controlling and overbearing. Rebekah Levine Coley, a professor of educational psychology at Boston College, who headed this research states, “Warm, more democratic relationships — in which parents do not use negative and psychologically controlling behaviors — could help parents to communicate values, increase adolescents’ identification with their parents, help youth to develop healthy decision-making skills and also keep youth away from negative peer influences.”

The study had just under 5,000 teenage participants and focused on retrieving evidence of parenting styles and how it affected a teenager’s sexual choices.  The survey was taken from teenagers who were born in the early 1980s. Coley states that the results from the study were “suggestive but not definitive” and in no way determined what type of parenting techniques and styles worked best. Coley further stated that many family activities like “eating dinner together as a family or engaging in fun activities or religious activities together” actually helped teenagers by making them less likely to engage in sexual activities. Furthermore, if the parents did not exhibit, “negative and psychologically controlling behaviors,” this also acted as a deterrent to having early sex.

In an era when two out of three young adults is having sexual relations before the age of 19, this research is offering a very clear picture that parenting skills play an integral part in teenagers and whether or not they choose to engage in sexual activities at a young age. While the study did not definitely discover how particular parenting styles affected sexual activity, the study clearly shows that parents need to be ever-mindful of the choices they make when engaging with their children. Don Operario, an Oxford University professor, adds, “This research is not necessarily saying to parents: ‘Go and talk to your teens about sex and counsel them on condom use, pregnancy, HIV and delaying sex,’  It is saying: ‘Support your teens, spend time with them, be less critical and controlling and more nurturing in their adolescent development. This, in turn, can help them make more informed, safe decisions about sexual activity.’”