Why Do Some Teens Remain Virgins and Some Become Sexually Active?
Lynn Blinn Pike, Ph.D., Former Human Development & Family Studies Specialist, College of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia In 2001, Lynn Pike and colleagues at the University of Missouri completed a federal grant in which they surveyed the same 1,112 teenagers in Missouri six times over four years and Dr. Pike believes that the findings are important for parents, educators, and other researchers. First, • half of the 1,112 students were already sexually active at 15 years of age; • the majority of abstinent teens said they were virgins because they were afraid of getting a disease or getting pregnant rather than because of conservative or religious philosophies against having sex before marriage; • rural teens were not more likely to be abstinent that urban teens; and • compared to sexually active teens, abstinent teens could list more reasons why virginity was important. In addition, as they moved through adolescence, abstinent teens were less likely to say