When adults use the words 'teenager' and 'sexuality' together, they're usually describing a problem. But are there healthy ways for teenagers to express themselves sexually?
Sexuality is a very important part of who we are, and adolescents who have gone through puberty have the same hormones and the same hormonal drive as adults. And our society reinforces those drives. We do all kinds of direct and indirect things to encourage sexual intercourse and sexual behavior -- everything but talk about sexuality. So we're giving our kids a double message.
On the one hand, we're exposing them to people who have sex, for example, on TV, but on TV they don't talk about contraception and don't use condoms. We tell our teenagers, "No, you shouldn't do that," but we don't talk with them about how they might express their sexuality in a healthy way.
What are the current trends in teenage pregnancy?
The good news is that in the last five years or so, teen pregnancy rates in the United States have been declining. And there's a lot more condom use than there was in the mid-'80s, early '90s, which also helps protect teenagers from STDs.
But the United States has still got, by far, the highest teen pregnancy rate of any developed country in the world. The reason for that is not because our kids have sex at a younger age than in other cultures. It's because they're less likely to use contraception.
And because our pregnancy rate is so high, our abortion rate is also much higher than in other developed countries. About a third of adolescent girls who became pregnant have had abortions. And that's across the socioeconomic board, from poor kids to rich kids.
