hy do we have a continuing unacceptably high rate of births to
young people? The basic answer is clear—it is a change in our
culture combined with a biological change in beginning fertility. Adult
attitudes, values, and behaviors surround young people with inconsistent, often
conflicting and, many times, negative messages about responsible sexual behavior.
The impact of change on youth from a more conservative and consistent culture
to this new one is compounded by the fact that the beginning age of fertility
has been lowering 3 months every 10 years for the last 100 years. Whereas a
hundred years ago, on the average, girls did not become fertile until around age
17; half of all girls now have the capacity to become pregnant before age 12!
Boys’ fertility follows roughly a year later.
The result of these two changes is that we now have a generation of youth who
are making decisions about sexual actions in an environment that is sexually provocative
but contains few sexual rules. They are making these decisions without
having completed some of the most important phases of their growth and development,
including their cognitive, psychosocial, and moral growth. Indeed, without
yet knowing fully who they are, and without yet being able to clearly see the consequences
of their actions, young people are deciding to have sexual intercourse,
deciding protection is an option rather than a necessity, and deciding to have a
baby before they have a chance to complete their education and become financially
self-supporting.
What can we do?
We cannot change the biological clock. And it is unlikely we can quickly change
our culture. Therefore, as our young people grow to sexual maturity within our
current framework, it is important to help them manage their sexual actions as
responsibly and as consequence-free as possible. Three approaches—insulation,
minimization, and delay of onset—have been suggested as ways to help
youth manage their participation in a variety of negative health behaviors such as
smoking, drinking, or other drug use, as well as premature sexual involvement.
Insulation
As applied to interventions in the field of teenage pregnancy prevention, it is clear
that insulating young people from the harmful effects of sexual behavior has been
the major intervention choice by health professionals over the last two decades.
Since pregnancy at a young age is seen as being potentially harmful to both the
teenage parents and their offspring, health service providers have sought to proW
hy do we have a continuing unacceptably high rate of births to
young people? The basic answer is clear—it is a change in our
culture combined with a biological change in beginning fertility. Adult
attitudes, values, and behaviors surround young people with inconsistent, often
conflicting and, many times, negative messages about responsible sexual behavior.
The impact of change on youth from a more conservative and consistent culture
to this new one is compounded by the fact that the beginning age of fertility
has been lowering 3 months every 10 years for the last 100 years. Whereas a
hundred years ago, on the average, girls did not become fertile until around age
17; half of all girls now have the capacity to become pregnant before age 12!
Boys’ fertility follows roughly a year later.
The result of these two changes is that we now have a generation of youth who
are making decisions about sexual actions in an environment that is sexually provocative
but contains few sexual rules. They are making these decisions without
having completed some of the most important phases of their growth and development,
including their cognitive, psychosocial, and moral growth. Indeed, without
yet knowing fully who they are, and without yet being able to clearly see the consequences
of their actions, young people are deciding to have sexual intercourse,
deciding protection is an option rather than a necessity, and deciding to have a
baby before they have a chance to complete their education and become financially
self-supporting.
What can we do?
We cannot change the biological clock. And it is unlikely we can quickly change
our culture. Therefore, as our young people grow to sexual maturity within our
current framework, it is important to help them manage their sexual actions as
responsibly and as consequence-free as possible. Three approaches—insulation,
minimization, and delay of onset—have been suggested as ways to help
youth manage their participation in a variety of negative health behaviors such as
smoking, drinking, or other drug use, as well as premature sexual involvement.
Insulation
As applied to interventions in the field of teenage pregnancy prevention, it is clear
that insulating young people from the harmful effects of sexual behavior has been
the major intervention choice by health professionals over the last two decades.
Since pregnancy at a young age is seen as being potentially harmful to both the
teenage parents and their offspring, health service providers have sought to proW
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hy do we have a continuing unacceptably high rate of births to
young people? The basic answer is clear—it is a change in our
culture combined with a biological change in beginning fertility. Adult
attitudes, values, and behaviors surround young people with inconsistent, often
conflicting and, many times, negative messages about responsible sexual behavior.
The impact of change on youth from a more conservative and consistent culture
to this new one is compounded by the fact that the beginning age of fertility
has been lowering 3 months every 10 years for the last 100 years. Whereas a
hundred years ago, on the average, girls did not become fertile until around age
17; half of all girls now have the capacity to become pregnant before age 12!
Boys’ fertility follows roughly a year later.
The result of these two changes is that we now have a generation of youth who
are making decisions about sexual actions in an environment that is sexually provocative
but contains few sexual rules. They are making these decisions without
having completed some of the most important phases of their growth and development,
including their cognitive, psychosocial, and moral growth. Indeed, without
yet knowing fully who they are, and without yet being able to clearly see the consequences
of their actions, young people are deciding to have sexual intercourse,
deciding protection is an option rather than a necessity, and deciding to have a
baby before they have a chance to complete their education and become financially
self-supporting.
What can we do?
We cannot change the biological clock. And it is unlikely we can quickly change
our culture. Therefore, as our young people grow to sexual maturity within our
current framework, it is important to help them manage their sexual actions as
responsibly and as consequence-free as possible. Three approaches—insulation,
minimization, and delay of onset—have been suggested as ways to help
youth manage their participation in a variety of negative health behaviors such as
smoking, drinking, or other drug use, as well as premature sexual involvement.
Insulation
As applied to interventions in the field of teenage pregnancy prevention, it is clear
that insulating young people from the harmful effects of sexual behavior has been
the major intervention choice by health professionals over the last two decades.
Since pregnancy at a young age is seen as being potentially harmful to both the
teenage parents and their offspring, health service providers have sought to proW
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
