CarnalNation

The results of data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) should not really come as a surprise to anyone: American teens need more and better sex education. The surveillance summary Sexual and Reproductive Health of Persons Aged 10--24 Years published in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report paints a grim picture of the sexuality of American youth.

Dr. Lorrie Gavin and colleagues write, "The data presented in this report indicate that many young persons in the United States engage in sexual risk behavior and experience negative reproductive health outcomes." Using data from a variety of studies and surveys involving several hundred thousand children, teens, and young adults from 2001 through 2007, the CDC researchers found dire news with regard to the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregancy. The number of AIDS diagnoses among men aged 15-19 years has nearly doubled, increasing from 1.3 cases per 100,000 in 1997 to 2.5 per 100,000 in 2006. The rate of syphilis infection among women has gone up by nearly 50% with 1.5 cases per 100,000 in 2004 to 2.2 cases per 100,000 population in 2006. After years of decline, the teen birth rate also showed an increase with 40.5 births per 1,000 females in 2005 to 42.5 in 2007.

The report also indicates that parents are not talking to their kids about sex. Only 49.8 percent of 18- and 19-year-old women had talked with their parents about birth control; whereas a meager 35 percent of men the same age had discussed the topic with a parent. The researchers also found that significant disparities in sex education and disease incidence exist between racial and ethnic groups as well as by geographic region. Southern states have the highest incidence of teen pregnancy and incidence of STDs. However, more than 80 percent of teen boys and girls say they have received formal education in how to say 'no' to sex. These results show that despite that formal education, adolescents abstained from exercising what they learned.

The researchers conclude, "The data presented in this report indicate that the sexual and reproductive health of America's young persons remains an important public health concern: a substantial number of youths are affected, disparities exist, and earlier progress appears to be slowing and perhaps reversing. These patterns exist for a range of health outcomes (i.e., sexual risk behavior, pregnancy and births, STDs, HIV/AIDS, and sexual violence), highlighting the magnitude of the threat to young persons' sexual and reproductive health." The Obama administration has made an effort to reform sex education and reproductive health programs in the U.S., including proposals to cut the funding for or to eliminate many abstinence-only programs. Open and frank communication about sex, contraception, and disease needs to happen not only for the health of American but also the nation as a whole.