A study of over 7,000 teenagers indicates that those who had sex at younger ages were 20% more likely to participate in illegal acts a year later such as painting graffiti, damaging property, stealing and selling drugs.
"We did not find that sex itself leads to delinquency, but that beginning sexual relationships long before your friends is cause for concern," said Stacy Armour, co-author of the study and a doctoral student at Ohio State University.Researchers used data collected from students at 132 high schools and middle schools in 1994. The students were re-interviewed a year later and again in 2002. Students at each individual school had a different average age for initial sexual intercourse that ranged from 11.25 years to 17.5 years. Students were compared only to students at their own schools.
Armour said that the connection between early sex and juvenile delinquency has to do with the entire context of a persons life. This study appears in the February 2007 issue of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.
Labels: sex, research, juvenile delinquency
Posted By: Aspen Education Group