A significant percentage of boys are having sex too early finds a new study. Several factors have been cited as possible associated cause of such occurrences. The results of the study titled, “Prevalence of Sexual Initiation Before Age 13 Years Among Male Adolescents and Young Adults in the United States,” were published in the latest issue of the journal JAMA Pediatrics this week.
The results reveal that around 3.6 to 7.6 percent of boys and young American men are having their first sexual intercourse before they turn 13 years of age. Around half of them had consented for that sexual encounter, the study notes. This calls for public awareness, education and open communication to support healthy sexual development in boys write the researchers. Laura Lindberg, first author of the study and principal research scientist at the Guttmacher Institute said in a statement, “Too often, the sexual health needs of young men are overlooked. These findings have major implications for the timing of sex education and sexual and reproductive health care.” She said, “Parents and educators can't wait until a high school class to cover key topics when many young males start having sex before this.”
The United States Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) also says that 17 years is the average age when boys and girls have sex for the first time. However boys are mo0re likely to have sex before they turn 13. This new study comes from the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System data collected in 2011, 2013 and 2015. In addition data from National Survey of Family Growth from 2006 to 2015 was also analyzed. For the CDC data the students were given questionnaires when they were in grades nine to 12. A total of 19,916 boys were included in the survey. The second data came from face-to-face interviews from 7,739 males aged between 15 and 24 years. The second study also looked at how much the boys “wanted” the sexual encounter to determine consent.
Results showed that sex before 13 was seen in 7.6 percent of the high school male students in the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System data and 3.6 percent in the National Survey of Family Growth data. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System also showed that under-13 boys having sex was widely variant in different states with 5 percent in San Francisco and 25 percent in Memphis, Tennessee. Among those having sex before 13, the National Survey of Family Growth data showed that 8.5 percent did not “want” the sex and 37 percent had mixed feelings about actually “wanting” the encounter. Around 54.6 percent described the encounter as something they “wanted”. Most of the first sexual partners for the boys were their friends. Among those having sex after they turned 13, 5.4 percent reported it as “unwanted”, 31.3 percent had mixed feelings and 63.3 percent had “wanted” the encounter.
When looking for association, the team found that boys who had a mother with a college education or higher degree were less likely to have sex before they turned 13. Early sex among boys was also more common among those from “non-Hispanic black and Hispanic males” in metropolitan areas, the team found. The team add that the major limitation of the study was that the sexual encounters were self-reported by young participants. In addition, only male-female sexual encounters were taken into account and other sexual experiences were not recorded.
In an accompanying editorial Dr. David Bell, pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Samantha Garbers, an associate professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, write that sex education for boys is of paramount importance to ensure healthy sexual development and activity among boys. They write, “Any messaging, whether from clinicians or schools or parents, must recognize pressures that 'manhood is something that boys must make happen, by passing certain social milestones,' such as having sex. It is critical to engage young men in self-reflection about the real pressures US society places on them that affect their overall health and well-being.” They add, “Any discussions associated with pressures should include topics of 'what it means to be a man' and soliciting and giving consent. With the support of caring adults, led by existing national guidelines that call for developmentally appropriate interventions early in life, boys can achieve healthier milestones without ambivalence or societal risk.” Dr. Bell emphasized upon timely administration of HPV vaccine to prevent sexually transmitted infections as well.
The authors of the study conclude, “These findings may have major implications for the timing of sex education and sexual and reproductive health care. Helping parents or guardians, schools, and communities support male adolescents’ healthy sexual development should be a priority. Health care practitioners must recognize and address all of the developmental needs and pathways to healthy trajectories for young males.”
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