When it comes to preventing risky teen sex, there may be no better deterrent than a doting dad.
Teenagers whose fathers are more involved in their lives are less likely to engage in risky sexual activities such as unprotected intercourse, according to a new study.
The more attentive the dad -- and the more he knows about his teenage child's friends -- the bigger the impact on the teen's sexual behavior, the researchers found. While an involved mother can also help stave off a teen's sexual activity, dads have twice the influence.
"Maybe there's something different about the way fathers and adolescents interact," said the study's lead author Rebekah Levine Coley, an associate professor at Boston College. "It could be because it's less expected for fathers to be so involved, so it packs more punch when they are."
Understanding a father's influence in teen sexual behavior is important, experts say. One in four American adolescents under the age of 15 has had sexual intercourse and, by age 18, two-thirds have had sex, according to research. The concern is, many sexually active young people aren't using protection, a contributing factor in rising teen birth rates. Approximately 750,000 teenagers become pregnant each year and about 3 in 10 teenage girls become pregnant at least once before age 20, according to government statistics.
For the new study, which was published in the journal Child Development, Coley and her colleagues surveyed 3,206 teens, ages 13 to 18, once a year for four years. The teens, who all came from two-parent homes, were asked about their sexual behaviors and about their relationships with their parents.
Researchers posed a series of questions about both mothers and fathers, such as "how much does s/he know about whom you are with when you are not at home?" The teens were also asked how often they interacted with their parents in activities such as eating dinner, playing games or attending religious activities.
Dad's positive effect
Parental knowledge of a teen's friends and activities was rated on a five point scale. When it came to the dads, each point higher in parental knowledge translated into a 7 percent lower rate of sexual activity in the teen. For the moms, one point higher in knowledge translated to a 3 percent lower rate of teen sexual activity.
The impact of family time overall was even more striking. One additional family activity per week predicted a 9 percent drop in sexual activity.
Child development experts said the study was carefully done and important. "It's praiseworthy by any measure," said Alan E. Kazdin, a professor of psychology and child psychiatry at Yale University. "The strength of this study is that it helps us identify the children who might be engaging in risky sexual behavior."
Why would dads have a more powerful influence?
"Dads vary markedly in their roles as caretakers from not there at all to really helping moms," Kazdin said. "The greater impact of dads might be that moms are more of a constant and when dads are there their impact is magnified."
Also, Kazdin said "when dads are involved with families, the stress on the mom is usually reduced because of the diffusion of child-rearing or the support for the mom."
In other words, dad's positive effect on mom makes life better for the child, Kazdin explains.
The study underscores the importance of parental engagement overall, said Patrick Tolan, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
"For one thing, the more time you spend with them, the less time they're going to be on their own in places where they can get into risky behavior," Tolan explained. "Also, if you're spending time talking to them, they're going to get your values and they're more likely to think things through rather than acting impulsively."
But simply requiring more family dinners won't necessarily reduce the risk that a teen will engage in unprotected sex. The families that are spending more time together may be different in some way from those that are spending less: they may simply be warmer and have closer ties, Kazdin said. If the kids are avoiding their parents because the atmosphere in the home is tense, adding more together time isn't going to help, Kazdin said.
Coley hopes that the study will encourage both moms and dads to keep trying to connect with their teenage children, even as their kids are pushing them away.
"While it's normal for teens to want to pull away from the family, that doesn't mean they don't want to engage at all," Coley said. "It's extremely important to continue to do things together. And it's up to parents to set the expectations and standards when it comes to spending time together. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive."
Linda Carroll is a health and science writer living in New Jersey. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsday, Health magazine and SmartMoney.
SOURCE: MSNBC
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well in my own understanding for the teens to be away from their parents site it's not good enough coz the more the teens are out of hand the more seeking sexual pleasure.
This is true, but dads have to fight their daughters and wives. Sometimes the mothers will okay sexual actions without knowing it, not knowing they are doing it. But if they try to defend heir little girls against the father’s decision not to have a boy friend, they invite trouble in the girls life. When a father tells the little girl,’ no you can’t have a boyfriend at this age,' it should be echoed by the mother. A father must not care about what others think about his decision to protect his little girl. A disobedient girl will find a way to give up her virginity, regardless of the good father that is trying to protect her. But boys will respect a good father, when the father demands it. Yes, it is okay for girls to have friends that are boys. But like me and all males, 99% of us want to get between girls legs. It is call procreation without knowing what it really is. I know this and will try to protect my little honey from the males. God bless the fathers that try, and God keeps the girls that don’t want to be a field for every boy to plant his seed. Girls, use your head to get ahead in life, not you vagina
You have plenty of time to give yourself to Mr. Right. But there is no Mr Right in high school. The one you start out with is not the one you will end with. Heart aches are unmanageable at this age, wisdom evades you. Sitting in class making A’s is better than worrying about whether he loves you or not. Love is not the male’s motive. No, he doesn’t love you. He loves all pretty girls, especially them that put out. Guard yourself, obey wisdom and wait.
Well stuff happens even when you have a dad. Teens can be hard headed no matter what the upbringing. I speak from life experiance. I had a kid at age 18 and i had dad in house.
Well stuff happens even when you have a dad. Teens can be hard headed no matter what the upbringing. I speak from life experiance. I had a kid at age 18 and i had dad in house.