Teen Promiscuity has psychological underpinnings

by smkovalinsky | August 20, 2009 at 07:24 pm

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It is no secret to anyone who had childhood and early adolescent trauma that early sexual acting out is a symptom and consequence of psychological stress. But now a new study may be able to assist those in authority - counselors, teachers, doctors, and those in law enforcement - in understanding the causality, and mapping prevention and intervention strategies.
From Pediatrics online journal (Dr. Marilyn M Black, University of Maryland):

For example, at the age of 14, teens with a history of psychological abuse were twice as likely to have had sex as those who had not been abused. Physical abuse and neglect were linked to relatively similar increases in risk.

Maltreated youth also had significantly higher emotional distress than non-maltreated youth, and emotional distress explained the link between maltreatment and sexual intercourse by age 14, Black noted. By age 16, factors other than emotional distress explained the link between maltreatment and sexual intercourse.

Looking further into this correlation, a sociological aspect can also be seen: Indeed, Howe and Strauss, the famous American generational theorists, had said that "Generation X", those born circa and beyond 1967 or so, were the "nomad" generation: Vagabonds, latch-key kids, traumatized by divorce, and exposed to media sex and violence. This was the generation which came of age with the AIDS virus, bi-sexuality, rampant divorce, and MTV. Small wonder, then, that there has been such rampant sexual acting out, sexually transmitted diseases, and teen pregnancy. And much of this has continued with Generation "Y", born in the '80s and into the '90s. The Pediatric Journal concludes:

Maltreated children are at risk for early initiation of sexual intercourse and should be a focus of trauma-focused interventions that can improve their psychological and behavioral health," Black concluded.

"Evaluations of young, sexually active adolescents should not be limited to risks of pregnancy and infection, but should include a comprehensive assessment that addresses the possibility of maltreatment," she said.

I think this study might have broader applications: In particular, regarding a socio-cultural/ generational cohort, which came of age at a time when societal neglect and psychological abuse by the older generation were at an all-time high.

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