The New York Times reports on a study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The conclusion: teenagers want their parents to be “a bit bolder” on the question of whether or not to have sex.
Kate Zernike writes (excerpt):
Parents are the biggest influence on teenagers’ decisions about whether to have sex, according to the survey, but they do not realize it. Among teenagers, 45 percent said their parents were the biggest influence and 31 percent said their friends were. Parents see this in something of a mirror: 32 percent said parents were the biggest influence, 48 percent said teenagers’ friends are.
“Adults continue to underestimate their influence,” Ms. Brown said. “They may be so concerned about being friends or pseudo-peers that they forget that the primary job of parents is to be parental.”