Dear Jean:
Does the relationship between an
adolescent and their parents or family influence the age in which
the individual begins to engage in sexual intercourse?
Jean responds:
Hi, thanks for
writing in to parentingadolescents.com.
Your question is
interesting. My answer is 'yes,' even though I can't prove
it, i.e., I know of no research that focuses specifically on an
association of age of first sexual intercourse and aspects of the
relationship with family/parents. However, it's my clinical
observation based on years of doing psychotherapy with teens and
parents that age of onset of sexual relations may be related to any
of the following factors and probably other factors as well, in the
relationship of teen and family:
- whether there has been sexual incest in the
family, directly involving the teen or not
- whether there has been early sexual overstimulation, though
not incest
- the degree to which the teen has felt accepted in his/her own
sexuality
- the attitude at home towards sex and sexuality
- the degree to which the teen has been able to talk about
sexual questions, feelings, or concerns, if not directly with
parents, then with other adults he/she respects and trusts
It might be interesting to you to look at a study done by the Annie E. Casey
Foundation that found that better communication
between adults and teens about sex tended to reduce the number of
teen pregnancies. Although this still does not address directly your
concern about age of first intercourse, it seems to me it might be
related to it.
If you would like to write back and talk a bit
more specifically about your interest in this particular question,
I'll be glad to write back
again.
Jean.
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educational
and informative. It is not a substitute for face to face consultation
or psychotherapy with a mental health professional.