Sexual feelings, attractions, fantasies and desires affect virtually all people from at least puberty onwards. The average age of puberty for girls in the UK is 12 to 13, 13 to 14 for boys. In common with other aspects of development, the age at which puberty occurs varies widely from person to person. It is normal for the onset of puberty in different individuals to start as young as 8 or to be delayed until 16 or The age at which people first begin to act on their sexual interests also varies widely and can be affected by a large range of factors including biological development, hormone levels, cultural factors, religious and moral views, upbringing, self-esteem, education and socio-economic status.
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Existing research on teenage conceptions
Try out PMC Labs and tell us what you think. Learn More. The UK has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in western Europe. Although there is a large body of literature focusing on predictors of conception among this age group, almost all the work compares those young women who have become pregnant with their peers, regardless of whether or not their peers have experienced sexual intercourse. Those who engage in sexual intercourse at a relatively young age will often have had more opportunity to become pregnant than those whose sexual debut comes later. Similarly, the fact that those who use contraception at first intercourse have been less likely to conceive than those who do not could reflect the overall patterns of contraceptive use: young women who have used contraception at each occasion of intercourse will have had less chance to conceive than those who have not. Having a young partner at first intercourse suggests that, if this pattern continues, the couple may lack the resources needed to prevent a pregnancy due to the immaturity of both partners.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Christine E. Kaestle, Carolyn T. Halpern, William C. Miller, Carol A.
The sexuality of US adolescents includes their feelings, behaviors and development, and the place adolescent sexuality has in American society, including the response of the government , educators, parents, and other interested groups. Teenage pregnancy is four times as prevalent in the US as in the European Union, [1] but has been steadily declining since , reaching a record low in , according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC , and continuing to decline through More than half of the schools in the study followed a comprehensive approach that included information about both abstinence and contraception, while approximately one third of schools provided students with abstinence-only sex education. Self-report surveys suggest that half of all to year-olds have had oral sex. The average age of first sexual intercourse in the United States is around Teens are using birth control contraceptives more today when they lose their virginity than they did in the past, and this is in part due to the AIDS epidemic. Adolescents who are better students generally initiate sexual activity later than those who are poor students. In addition, among those seventh and eighth graders, those with personal and perceived peer norms that encourage adolescents to refrain from sex are less likely to engage in it.
