Parents don't think their own teens are having sex

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Many parents don't think their kids are interested in sex, but believe that everyone else's kids are, a new study reveals. "Parents I interviewed had a very hard time thinking about their own teen children as sexually desiring subjects," said study researcher Sinikka Elliott, an assistant professor of sociology at North Carolina State University. "At the same time, parents view their teens' peers as highly sexual, even sexually predatory."

These disillusioned parents are factually wrong, as there were 435,436 births to teens aged 15 to 19 in 2006, and 6,396 for those aged 10 to 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And the dual thinking about teenage sex has its own consequences. By viewing their own children as holier-than-thou, parents shift the responsibility for potential sexual activity to others.

source: Article 'Parents Don't Think Their Own Teens Are Having Sex' by Jeanna Bryner; www.livescience.com/6404-parents-teens-sex.html; LiveScience; 3 May 2010