Psychology 1230: Psychology of Adolescence

Transcript Psychology 1230: Psychology of Adolescence

Psychology 1230: Psychology of Adolescence Don Hartmann Spring 2005 Lecture 14 (old #23): Sexuality

WEB Discussion #16

II. #6:Family Dynamics: TUG II

Evaluation due on 03/11): (Summary Individuals who view the family as a developing organism have noted that in many families the children are going through adolescence at the same time that their parents are experiencing mid-life and it associated crises and problems. Assuming that that is true, how would you expect the adolescents to affect the parents, and how would you expect the parents to affect their adolescents? Feel free to both make your own individual responses and comments on those 2 made by others. Posted 03/01

WEB Discussion #17

II. #7: How do Gender Theories differ?: Psyche II

(Summary due March 13). Professor Hartmann’s lecture on theories of gender development just didn’t do it for many in the class. Assist the class by making at least one important distinction between at least two theories (e.g., cognitive developmental and social cognitive). Develop your point well enough (e.g., with an example) so that it could be incorporated into lecture #12. As always, feel free to comment on others’ commentary. Posted 3 03/01.

WEB Discussion Process Group #1 due #2 due #3 due

TUGI 2/02 (3/01) 3/11 Eagles AwsAdol GrilledChick 2/03 (2/22) 3/06 2/05 (2/08) 2/21(2/24) 3/09 2/09 (2/16) 3/03 Psyche Granville ArtsyWomb --------- 2/11 (3/01) 3/13 2/14 (2/16) 2/26 2/23(2/23) 3/08 Bracketed date indicates date handed in.

*There is something wrong here. Who can help me?

Handout Summary

Handout • • • • 32. Study Guide #5 • 33. Lect. #11b: Identity • 34. HO: Writing Movie Reviews • 35. Lect. #12a: Gender I • • • 36. Study Guide #6 • 37. Lect. #12b: Gender II

38. Study Guide #7 39. Lect. #14: Gender III (Gays, etc.) 40. Lect. #15: Sexuality 41. Study Guide #8

Date WEB Date 02/11 02/15 02/16 02/17 02/17 02/18

02/24 02/25 02/28

How do they know these thing?

Supplemental Readings

Kaiser Foundation National Survey on Sex Education: www.kff.org

The Sex Education Coalition: http://www.sexedcoalition.org/

Overview of Sex Lecture

•Goals: To familiarize you with some of the major findings regarding sexual attitudes and behaviors in teenagers and a bit about contraception and sex education •Text Overlap: P. 236-237, 242-243, and 260-263.

•Lecture Overview: •Attitudes toward sex, and their change •Gender differences in intimacy and sexual behavior •Masturbation •A note on contraception & Coke •Sex education •Next: Lecture #15: Moral Development 8

Attitudes toward Sex: I

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American society stereotype: We are excessively permissive in matters of sex.

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Actually, we have followed a semi-restrictive/restrictive pattern demonstrated by:

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the "secrecy" with which we treat sex during earlier phases of development

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shielding young people from sex in childhood

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discouraging sexual activity during adolescence

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encouraging young adults to refrain from sex until marriage

Attitudes toward Sex: II

 So this is beginning to sound like a restrictive society with regard to sex; BUT society also encourages sexual activity during adolescence in TV programs, slick magazines, advertisements, music [lyrics], movies  So, in summary, society gives mixed messages about sex, and likely confuse adolescent about sexual relationships  But sexual attitudes -- like most other things -- are not static… 10

Some Data

The Questions : • Q1: I feel that pre-marital sexual intercourse is immoral • Q2: A man who has had sexual intercourse with a great many women is immoral • Q3: A woman who has had sexual intercourse with a great many men is immoral The responses: From King & Robinson (1977),

Journal of Marriage and the Family.

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Percent of College Respondents Agreeing with Each Question

Q1 Q2 Q3

1965 1975

Other Changes in Attitudes

 Emergence of "Permissiveness with affection" viewpoint -- "It's all right to have sex before getting married if they are in love with each other.“  Decline in the double standard for men & women- increasingly adolescents believe males & females should follow same standards for premarital sexual behavior  Most importantly, shift away from institutionalized norms & towards a perspective that places greater emphasis on individual judgments 12

Attitudes of Our Class

__ Do you approve of premarital sex?

__ Do you feel you must be in love with someone before having sex with that person?

__ Is homosexuality between consenting adults morally acceptable?

__ Do you think young people are more sexually promiscuous than they were a generation ago?

__ Does sexual experimentation before marriage contribute to later marital satisfaction and happiness/ __ Is masturbation morally wrong?

__ Does sex education lead to promiscuity?

__ Is there any sexual behavior that you consider completely taboo?

Yes, it has come to that!

Gender Differences in Intimacy

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Girls

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mention intimacy as a defining aspect of a close friendship

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are more sensitive & empathic when comforting friends in distress

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develop intimate relationships with boys before boys develop intimate relationships with girls

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Boys

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part of this difference may have to do with the type of relationships boys have

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may express intimacy in different ways

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less verbal about emotional needs/intimacy with friends

Gender Differences in Sexuality

 Boys  early sexual experience of boys are interpreted as "casual, somewhat impersonal" and associated with a sense of "achievement or scoring.“  keep matters of sex and intimacy separate; emphasis on physiological release/pleasure  Girls  integration of sexual activity into an already existing capacity for intimacy & emotional involvement;  sexual

script

involves "romance, love, intimacy" 16

Sex Play/Activity/Behaviors: I

 Males flaunt independence, reject parental controls; less inhibited than females  masturbate earlier & more frequently   explicit fantasies interested in sexual exploration  Females: engage in sexual activity out of a sense of low self esteem, feelings of rejection at home, & need to hold on to partner  females masturbate with increasing frequency after beginning to engage in sexual intercourse. For males, it is the reverse.

 Statistics on various sexual practices, including "going all the way“ given in text, p. 234-236. The sequence is shown in the following slide… 17

Mdn. Age at which European American Teens Engage in…

17.5

17 16.5

16 15.5

15 14.5

14 13.5

13 12.5

Kiss Fren Brst

Pen Vag Int Oral Sexual Activity

From Feldman, Turner, & Araujo (1999) *Reportedly increasing in frequency and decreasing in average age.

Sex Play/Activity/Behaviors: I I

Attitudes toward same-sex play  Males 52% engage is sexual play with members of the same sex before puberty  27% report a homosexual experience that led to orgasm during early adolescence, and 38% report similar experiences during late adolescence  Females: 34% of females engage is sexual play with members of the same sex before puberty.

A Few Observations on Contraception

• 15-to-19 year olds producing 1 million out-of-wedlock births • Contraception – .33 always, sometimes, and never use contraception—though contraceptive use in increasing!

– As a result, 1 of 10 15-19 years olds becomes pregnant one or more times.

– Most popular are pill, condom, and withdrawal. Brazilians use the rhythm method!

• Coca Cola is not highly rated, but if you use it, careful of the variety – Diet coke had no sperm swimming after a one-minute exposure to Diet – 8.5% of sperm were moving after Classic – 41.6% of sperm were moving after New Coke – Note: Pepsi has not answered the challenge!

Sex Education

• The failure to use contraceptives is related to inadequate sex education, and to a host of social, economic, and personality factors. • In addition to high pregnancy rates, adolescents have very high rates of venereal diseases. While syphilis and gonorrhea are traditional favorites, and mononucleosis is still of unknown origin, genital herpes and HIV are the venereal infection receiving the most current attention.

• Sex education is primarily the responsibility of parents, who rarely accomplish the task — oftentimes limited to the BIG talk. • While schools may not be the best source, they have the best access to both knowledge and adolescents.

Yes, and then there is parent involvement…

How Good are School-based Sex Education Programs?

•School-based sex education programs have too often been ineffective. Why?

•Perhaps because such programs begin too late in youngsters' sexual careers •Perhaps because they emphasize the biological aspects of sex and not the psychosocial aspects of sexuality •Perhaps because parents don’t reinforce the messages of these programs •Perhaps because religious beliefs rather than pragmatics play too large a role 23

Current Foci of Sex Educators

•Assertiveness training and sexual communication skills: saying & meaning “no” and being able to discuss contraception •More attention to the cognitive limitations of early adolescence (egocentric thinking & the personal fable) •The limited availability of contraceptives for young people •To adolescents' lack of accurate information about sex and pregnancy, and •To young people's difficulty in acknowledging -- to themselves and others -- that they are sexually active •To psychosocial as well as biological aspects of sex •To beginning programs early 24

A Further Question About Sex Education

•Given the highly sophisticated social influence and educational technologies we have developed for other purposes, why haven’t we applied this knowledge to sex education?

•What can we do to change this state of affairs?

How Much do We Know? (1)

1. Developed countries with liberal sexual attitudes, accessible contraceptive services for teens, and formal sex education programs have lower teenage pregnancy rates?

2. Teens are usually sexually active for a number of months before seeking information about contraceptive methods?

3. Three-fourths of sexually transmitted diseases occur in people 19 years old and younger?

4. Babies born to adolescent mothers have twice the mortality rate of babies born to mothers in any other age group?

5. About 55 percent of births among teenagers are out of wedlock?

6. One-tenth of all teenage females become pregnant each year?

7. About 15 percent of all live births in this country are to 26 teenage mothers?

How Much do We Know? (2)

8. One-third of all pregnancies among adolescents are aborted?

9. Only half of sexually active teens use contraception regularly?

10.Eighty-five percent of pregnancies among 15- to 19-year old girls were unintentional?

11.Sexually active girls who use drugs are more likely to get pregnant?

12.One-half of all first-time premarital pregnancies occur in the first six months of sexual activity?

13.Large percentages of adolescents do not realize that venereal diseases come from sexual activity?

14.Many adolescents feel that if you do not want to get pregnant, you will not?

A bit of irony!

Summary of Sexuality •

• Attitudes and changes in attitude toward sex • Gender differences in intimacy & sexual behavior • Masturbation • Contraception

Psychology 1230: Psychology of Adolescence

Transcript Psychology 1230: Psychology of Adolescence