Transcript Psychology 1230: Psychology of Adolescence

Psychology 1230: Psychology
of Adolescence
Don Hartmann
Spring 2005
Lecture 14 (old #23):
Sexuality
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WEB Discussion #16
II. #6:Family Dynamics: TUG II (SummaryEvaluation due on 03/11):
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
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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. Posted3
03/01.
WEB Discussion Process
Group
#1 due
#2 due
#3 due
TUGI
2/02 (3/01) 3/11
Eagles
2/03 (2/22) 3/06
AwsAdol 2/05 (2/08) 2/21(2/24) 3/09
GrilledChick
2/09 (2/16) 3/03
Psyche
2/11 (3/01) 3/13
Granville 2/14 (2/16) 2/26
ArtsyWomb
2/23(2/23) 3/08
---------Bracketed date indicates date handed in.
*There is something wrong here. Who can help
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Handout Summary
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Handout
WEB
Date
Date
02/11
02/15
02/16
02/17
02/17
02/18
02/24
02/25
02/28
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
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How do they know these thing?
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Supplemental Readings
Kaiser Foundation National Survey on Sex
Education: www.kff.org.
The Sex Education Coalition:
http://www.sexedcoalition.org/
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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
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Attitudes toward Sex: I
American society stereotype: We are excessively
permissive in matters of sex.
Actually, we have followed a
semi-restrictive/restrictive pattern demonstrated by:
the "secrecy" with which we treat sex during
earlier phases of development
shielding young people from sex in childhood
discouraging sexual activity during adolescence
encouraging young adults to refrain from sex
until marriage
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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…
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Some Data
Percent of College
Respondents Agreeing with
Each Question
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:
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
From King & Robinson (1977), Journal of
Marriage and the Family.
1965
1975
Q1
Q2
Q3
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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
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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?
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Yes, it has come to that!
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Gender Differences in Intimacy
Girls
mention intimacy as a defining aspect of a close
friendship
are more sensitive & empathic when comforting
friends in distress
develop intimate relationships with boys before
boys develop intimate relationships with girls
Boys
part of this difference may have to do with the type of
relationships boys have
may express intimacy in different ways
less verbal about emotional needs/intimacy with
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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"
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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…
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Age in Years
Mdn. Age at which EuropeanAmerican 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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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Yes, and then there is parent
involvement…
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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-yearold 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?
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A bit of irony!
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Summary of Sexuality
• Attitudes and changes in attitude
toward sex
• Gender differences in intimacy &
sexual behavior
• Masturbation
• Contraception
• Sex education
• Next: Lecture #15: Moral
development
• Go in Peace
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