Sexual Activity Starts Younger and Younger These Days

I was your typical middle school nerd who still giggled at fart jokes and would easily blush if any of my classmates brought up the word “sex.” Although, even then, I knew a multitude of friends and schoolmates were already regularly engaging in sex. In fact, it was not rare to see a pregnant schoolmate roaming the halls between classes in those grade levels. According to a new study out of The University of Texas School of Public Health, children as young as 12 years old have begun having sex. This study can be found in the Journal of School Health’s April edition.

The study was performed amongst youngsters currently in middle school who live in the southeastern United States region and attend public school in urban areas. Christine Markham, assistant professor of behavioral science at the University Of Texas School Of Public Health helped lead the study and stated, “This is one of the few school-based studies conducted with this age group to look at specific sexual practices in order to develop more effective prevention programs. This study shows that although most seventh graders are not engaging in sexual risk behaviors, a small percentage are putting themselves at risk.”

For the purposes of this study, researchers used the definition of sexual intercourse to include oral, vaginal and anal sex. Results from this study determined that by the age of 12, approximately 8 percent of middle students had participated in oral sex, 12 percent had participated in vaginal sex, 6.5 percent had participated in anal sex and 4 percent had participated in all of these types of sexual intercourse. Markham stated, “These findings are alarming because youth who start having sex before age 14 are much more likely to have multiple lifetime sexual partners, use alcohol or drugs before sex and have unprotected sex, all of which puts them at greater risk for getting a sexually transmitted disease (STD) or becoming pregnant.”

Results from the study also showed that approximately one-third of the students who were sexually active admitted to having vaginal or anal sex without using a condom in the last three months, while a quarter of those students who were sexually active admitted to having four or more sexual partners. Results also showed that the more sexually experienced students were either African-American and/or male. Markham goes on to say, “We need to develop prevention programs that address the needs of students who are not yet sexually active in order to promote skills and attitudes to help them wait until they are older to have sex. And we need to provide skills and knowledge related to condoms and contraception for youth who are already sexually active.”

In addition, researchers in this study also feel that those students who are already sexually active should be given information and services that discuss both sexually transmitted diseases and testing for pregnancies. These services should also include information on either abstaining in the future or reducing risky sexual behavior. Markham stated, “A common misperception among adolescents is that oral or anal intercourse is not as risky for STD transmission. But transmission of non-viral and viral STDs can occur through all three types of intercourse when condoms are not used.” She goes on to say, “It is critical that health education teachers and school nurses feel comfortable addressing these issues with their students and that their efforts are supported by parents and the school administration.”