Virgin Valedictorian or Sexual Sophisticate?
Yearbook. Photo: Stefan Klein
by Angela Spivey
The teens who took the sexual-attitudes survey conducted by Jane Brown and Kelly Ladin L’Engle were all fourteen to sixteen years old, but their knowledge about and interest in sex varied widely. The researchers identified four “sexual self-concept” clusters that cut across racial and gender lines and that may suggest ways to tailor sexual-health messages.
Virgin valedictorians.
“They pretty much couldn’t care less about sex,” L’Engle says. “They’re really into getting good grades and having good relationships with their families, and they’re pretty religious too.”
Curious conservatives.
These teens also report good relationships with their parents and frequent attendance at church, but they are curious about sex. “They look for information about sex in all kinds of places. They talk with their parents, with clergy members, with their peers. And they look to media for sexual information,” L’Engle says.
Silent susceptibles.
“These are kids who really want to have sex. They’re really interested, but they’re not getting information about sexuality and romantic relationships from anywhere,” L’Engle says. Like the curious conservatives, few of these kids had had sex, but because they’re not getting any information, they may be at risk of jumping into it without considering the consequences.
Sexual sophisticates.
“They essentially are the players,” L’Engle says. Sixty-two percent of the teens in this group had had sexual intercourse. In the other three groups, only 8 to 27 percent of kids had had intercourse.
These analyses are under review for publication. Other authors are LaHoma Smith Romocki of North Carolina Central University and Kristin Kenneavy, a doctoral student in sociology at Carolina.
Angela Spivey is a freelance writer based in Fayetteville, N.C.
