Basic HTML Version
SEX Begins at Home
for
Teen-agers with
Careless Parents
-
Where does a teen-ager's first sexual experience
occur? In an automobile? A motel? An isolated
spot? Overwhelmingly, in
none
of these
places. Most often, teen-agers engage in
premarital sex right at home while parents
are away.
by
Paul William Kroll
'"Vr
WENT
up
tO
my girl-
~
friend's house and sat
around Jistening ro
records," was one reen-ager's srory of
how ir happened. "Her parents had
gone ro che lake for che weekend or
somerhing. W e were jusr sitting
rhere. We scarred playing around, just
kissing and then
l. ..."
le was co be their firsc experience at
sexual intercourse.
Anorher ceen-ager put
ir
chis way:
"My girlfriend was babysitting for
chese people. And rhey didn'r mind
me coming over. She pur che kids to
bed, and we were warching television.
Then we sorra gor close and began co
kiss and...."
So wenr che experience of anorher
couple. This rime an unwanred preg–
nancy was che rragic ouccome.
In borh cases, parenrs had allowed
reen-agers ro use rheir home withour
supervision.
Why
Sex Begins at Home
Tragically, che above examples are
nor isolared cases, for large numbers
of reen-agers begin rheir premariral
22
sexual experience righr ar home.
Many illegitimare children have been
conceived on che living room couch.
In May 1969, Dr. Clyde Von Der
Ahe published rhe resulcs of a survey
he had made of 151 unwed morhers
in Los Angeles area marernity homes.
He had been arrempring ro "deter–
mine sorne of che causes of unwed
pregnancy." He found rhar "lack of
parental supervision" was one of che
"significanr faccors" causing pre·
marital pregnancies.
One pare of his quesrionnaire asked
for che "locarion of inicial sex ex–
posure." The answers showed rhac al–
mosr chree out of four girls had had
rheir firsc sexual inrercourse in one of
che following locarions: her home
(15.9%), che boy's home (41.7%), a
relative's home (2.6%), a friend's
home (11.3%). These figures add up
ro over 70% of che unwed mochers in
che srudy.
Parents Are Responsible
"The imporrance of parental
super·
vision in dating is a/J too obvious,"
ob–
served Dr. Von Der Ahe.
Anocher 15% of rhe girls in Dr.
Von Der Ahe's srudy said rhey'd had
rheir firsr sexual inrercourse in
an aucomobile. Though ofren over–
rared as che locacion for sexual
inrercourse, the automobile, never–
theless, can still serve as a bedroom
on wheels.
Altogerher, abouc 90% of che un–
wed morhers quizzed by Dr. Von Der
Ahe had had their first sexual inter·
course either in someone's home or in
an automobile.
lf
parencs were more
careful in supervising rhese rwo im–
portanr areas, they could be person–
ally responsible (and chey
are
personally responsible) for helping
rheir reen-agers avoid premariral sex–
ual inrercourse and rhereby greatly re–
duce rhe number of unwanred reen–
age pregnancies.
Dr. Von Der Ahe underlined par–
enes' responsibiliry in a concluding
sraremenc: "We cannor overempha–
size rhe imporrance of parental super·
vision and che inherenr dangers in
allowing young reen-agers ro go
sready."
PLAIN TRUTH
Jonvory
1973