Like most teens, you may argue with your parents from time to time over certain things — how late you can stay out on a school night, what grades you have to get in math, what clothes to wear to school ... But we often forget about the things adults and teens see eye to eye on.
According to a new survey released by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, most adults and teens agree that it's important to learn about abstinence, as well as about birth control. The study, With One Voice 2002, polled a random set of 1,017 adults and 1,001 young people to reveal American attitudes about preventing teen pregnancy.
Key Findings:
Agreed!
Almost everyone surveyed (more than 90 percent of both adults and teens) believe that it's important for teens to get a strong message from society to wait to have sexual intercourse until they're at least out of high school.
Support for a strong abstinence message — yes. Support for an abstinence-only message — no.
More than 60 percent of adults and nearly 60 percent of teens believe that teens should not be sexually active. But they also believe that those who choose to be sexually active should still have access to birth control.
Both are better than one ...
A substantial majority, about three-quarters of adults and two-thirds of teens, believe that teens should get more information about abstinence AND birth control, instead of just one or the other.
The message is clear!
About 70 percent of both adults and teens believe that stressing abstinence while providing information about birth control is a "clear and specific" message, and not a "mixed" one.
Wishing they waited ...
Most sexually experienced teens — about 63 percent — wish they had waited longer to have sex.
Teens are cautious when it comes to casual sex.
Most teens — about 82 percent — believe that partners should have sex only if they are in a long-term, committed relationship. Only one in five think it's okay to have sex if two people have known each other for a short time.
"It won't happen to me."
More than half of all teens surveyed (54 percent) say they've never thought about what life would be like if they got pregnant or got someone pregnant.
Peer pressure makes a difference.
Nine out of 10 teens think it would be a lot easier to wait to have sexual intercourse if other teens spoke positively about not having sex.
Waiting is nothing to be ashamed of!
Less than one quarter of teens — only 19 percent — think it's embarrassing for teens to admit they are virgins.
Surprising or not, these findings confirm the truth that often gets blurred in the debate over abstinence — that the great majority of adults and teens speak "with one voice" in their support for information on both abstinence and birth control.
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