Study Debunks Theory On Teen Sex, Delinquency-New Analyses Challenging Many Old Assu

Source: wpost



Study Debunks Theory On Teen Sex, Delinquency
New Analyses Challenging Many Old Assumptions

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 11, 2007; A03



Researchers at Ohio State University garnered little attention in February when they found that youngsters who lose their virginity earlier than their peers are more likely to become juvenile delinquents. So obvious and well established was the contribution of early sex to later delinquency that the idea was already part of the required curriculum for federal "abstinence only" programs.

There was just one problem: It is probably not true. Other things being equal, a more probing study has found, youngsters who have consensual sex in their early-teen or even preteen years are, if anything, less likely to engage in delinquent behavior later on.

That new analysis, a reworking of the same data the Ohio team used, is one of several recent instances in which a more precise parsing of data has begun to turn long-standing societal presumptions on their head. By bringing evidence to bear on complex social issues, these studies are forcing individuals and policymakers to rethink such hot-button topics as the benefits of breast-feeding, the risks of teen child-bearing and, in the latest example, the harms long presumed to result from teen sex.

Like many of the newer studies, the latest one -- led by Paige Harden, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville -- used the powerful techniques of behavioral genetics. The field specializes in studies on twins, research that can help tell whether behavioral traits are the result of genes or the social environment, and that has periodically stirred controversy when it has focused on the genetic underpinnings of criminality and intelligence..



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/10/AR2007111001271_pf.html

Anyway it is not clear to me that early sex = less sexual frustration.

..

That never happens.

LOL!

It is just that more incidents are being reported and it appears that there are more.

That despite access to "pornography" on the internet sex crimes has gone down.


I would have to agree with the idea behind the above. Just as it appears to be more crime or catastrophes some or all of that should be compared to the advance of media and the internet. More of what is happening in this country and the world is reported compared to 50's to the 70's. So those that complain that life is not as good as it was back then are forgetting the limited scope of their lives back then.

it's possible that partially because of porn readily available on the internet, sex crimes have gone down.
But, that's just my very unscientific opinon.

I will say that is a reasonable thesis worthy of further study.

Your opinion has now been validated by -1- scientist. :yourock:

Six months from now, another study "reworking the same data" will find out something else. And we'll get the same breathless reporting. Ho hum.

for uncovering the truth, not for proclaming it. The media generally isn't helpful in understanding this point. When research papers contradict one another legitimately, then more studying is needed.

Correlation is not the same as causation.

It is so obvious it should have been obvious.
The same risk factors that make a juvenile delinquent lead to earlier sexual activity. Saying that early sexual activity causes juvenile delinquency makes about as much sense as saying that drunk driving causes cirrosis of the liver.