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DEL.ICIO.US“Parental void helps fuel problem of teen sex, drug abuse”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
She waited for the firestorm after the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services released its survey on student behavior.
The questionnaire, completed in spring 2006, showed that kids in the sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades are dabbling in sex, drugs and alcohol at a younger age. Among the findings:
* 37 percent of high school students say they have had sexual intercourse.
*8 percent of middle school students say they have had sexual intercourse.
*17.4 percent of high school students say they have had three or more intercourse partners.
Ellen Gerstein, the group’s executive director, offered to speak about the results to parents and civic groups. Few took her up on it.
There’s a way to get folks talking about the issue, though, as evidenced last week in Portland, Maine. There, a school committee voted to make prescription birth control available to kids who have parental permission to be treated in a middle school student health center.
According to the Portland Press Herald, a girl will be able to walk into the clinic, take a physical exam, be counseled by a physician or nurse practitioner and, possibly, get birth control pills. Or the morning-after pill. State law allows students treated in Portland’s school-based health centers to receive confidential care for reproductive health, mental health and substance abuse.
When it comes to sex education, what approach to take typically falls into two camps - the abstinence-based instructional strategy, which the state’s public schools use, and the comprehensive approach.
Given those perspectives, you can either view the Portland school committee’s stance as wisely progressive or extremely contradictory.
Or maybe you’re torn, like me and Gerstein.
So many parents fail to talk to their kids about sex. Pop culture bombards youngsters with irresponsible messages about sex. Some kids look, dress and act older than their biological years. Must be the food.
And as the local survey showed, risky behavior is on the rise. Gerstein wonders whether there’s some magical mix of abstinence-based instruction and safe-sex measures that might cause kids to delay sex and protect those who don’t.
“I think [the Portland] community decided that the health and protection of the child was more important than some of the other issues that were raised,” she said. “I have mixed views. If a girl is sexually active, she needs birth control, professional health, counseling about her sexual activity and all the monitoring. I would rather my child go to a doctor and tell her things, confidentially, than not go at all.”
The Portland decision raises many questions.
What are the long-term effects of young girls going on the pill? What double message does providing contraceptives send kids? What about student confidentiality versus a parent’s right to know?
In a near-perfect society, parents would be the first line of instruction when it comes to teens and sex.
But that’s the thing. So many aren’t.
I asked Gerstein how many concerned parents or civic groups contacted her about the youth survey.
“Not very many,” she said.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
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Comments
By Connie
October 20, 2007 10:00 PM | Link to this
I feel no need to discuss the survey findings with Ms. Gerstein. The survey results did provide cause for yet another discussion with my two daughters. I feel fairly confident that my daughters will come to me to discuss any future need for birth control, but I am not opposed to the idea that they may also feel like talking to a trusted teacher, school counselor, or doctor. My daughters have been raised in a Christian household and they know why we believe in abstinence.. but the truth is that I can’t be at school with them to supervise every decision they make. I have made them aware that I will be willing to take them to a doctor and purchase the birth control, without making a preachy ordeal out of their decision. I would rather provide them with birth control than have one of them deal with an unplanned pregnancy, or with a disease. We do discuss almost daily the fact that I don’t think they are ready emotionally or spiritually to deal with a sexual relationship. I can only pray that they make the right decision when faced with that choice. I am just as concerned about alcohol or drug experimentation, and we will continue to talk about peer pressure and strategies for coping with all the choices they will face. Parenthood is so much tougher as they get into the middle and high school years!
By Mark
October 21, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this
Connie
You are making your daughters fear sex, which will haunt them the rest of their lives. You will end up with 2 prudes, and no grandchildren.
By Parent
October 21, 2007 9:20 PM | Link to this
I have found that many parents are interested in this survey,and are willing to talk to their students about the results but they prefer to review it by school, their school to be specific. Information that hits closest to home is more pertinent than a large survey where it becomes easy to say your child must not be in or hanging around with the % of kids having sex, doing drugs, etc.
By Katie
October 22, 2007 7:21 AM | Link to this
Not much has changed since I was a teen (early 80’s). Kids back then were messing with drugs and sex and they continue to do so today. Nothing new and nothing has changed.
and for those religious ones. The people that partied the most were the ones that came from very religious households. My best friend went to Catholic school and she was doing stuff I would have never thought of doing. At age 12 she was drinking, getting people to send her alcohol since she was at boarding school, smoking pot and taking LSD. This was 1983!!! Wake up and smell the coffee.
By Katie
October 22, 2007 7:22 AM | Link to this
Not much has changed since I was a teen (early 80’s). Kids back then were messing with drugs and sex and they continue to do so today. Nothing new and nothing has changed.
and for those religious ones. The people that partied the most were the ones that came from very religious households. My best friend went to Catholic school and she was doing stuff I would have never thought of doing. At age 12 she was drinking, getting people to send her alcohol since she was at boarding school, smoking pot and taking LSD. This was 1983!!! Wake up and smell the coffee.
By Beranna Westbrook
October 22, 2007 3:11 PM | Link to this
“this is for the students that have a drug abuse” talk to someone that understand you don’t be ashamed of what you do.feel free to talk to some body that can try to get you help.this is for the students that have sexual intercorse. if you having sex, make sure you tell your parent about it. don’t be afraid. and always use protection,there for you will not have any std’s
By Phequique
October 30, 2007 2:30 PM | Link to this
You don’t really need or want that lifestyle, it might hurt y’all slowly more…….Just tell him you don’t wanna repeat something your not too proud of z7uas.