Free parenting resources to welcome you to the HomeWord family! http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php The teen birthrate in 2011 set another new record low, according to the latest federal data. The numbers reflect a continued trend downward for teens having babies. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1653 More than 18 percent of all babies born to teenagers in the U.S. are baby No. 2 or 3, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1612 The notion that the youngest adolescents – ages 10 to 12 – are more sexually active today than in the past is greatly exaggerated, says a new report in the journal Pediatrics. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1603 A new analysis of data shows that the teen birth rate in rural counties is nearly one-third higher than the rest of the nation. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1584 In a new study, parents of teenage daughters were asked what forms of contraception they were most comfortable with doctors providing. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1581 The number of U.S. babies born to teen mothers dropped to record lows in 2011, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1575 A new study finds that teens who drink alcohol to excess are much more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1570 A new study of Dutch teens finds that few of them frequently engage in sexting, but those who do are more prone to have casual sex in real life. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1517 Preteen girls with below-average literacy are twice as likely to give birth in teen years, a new study finds. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1508 The idea that fathers play a significant role in the development of their kids' approach to sex has received some support in a new evidence review. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1501 A new study from the journal Pediatrics finds that adolescent girls who receive the HPV vaccine are not more likely to become sexually active, pregnant, or contract a sexually transmitted infection that those who do not receive the vaccine. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1496 A new study finds that when young women start using hormonal contraceptives -- pills, patches, shots, and rings -- they often stop using condoms. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1497 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), birth rates for U.S. teen mothers have hit their lowest point since the 1940s. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1489 A new survey finds that teens are even less comfortable talking with their parents about sex than their parents are. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1486 Two-thirds of teens and young adults have had oral sex — about as many as have had sexual intercourse, suggests research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1447 A new study finds that more than half of girls aged 13 or older already carry the human papillomavirus (HPV), reinforcing recommendations to give girls the shot at an early age. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1444 Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported at the International AIDS Conference that teens today are using condoms more than they were 20 years ago. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1429 A new study links exposure to sexual content in movies at an early age to adolescents' sexual behavior. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1425 Since 1991, The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has surveyed teens every two years in order to identify trends in risky adolescent behaviors. The results of the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey have recently been released. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1394 A new study has found a strong correlation between teenage consumers of online porn and risky sexual behaviors. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1380 The majority of girls in the United States do not have sex before the age of 19, a change from earlier years, a new report shows. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1367 Teen births fell again in the U.S. in 2010, reaching its lowest point since record-keeping began in 1940. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1345 Birth and abortion rates among U.S. teens fell to record lows in 2008 as increased use of contraceptives sent the overall teen pregnancy rate to its lowest level since at least 1972, a new study shows. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1299 In a new report, of teen moms who reported not using birth control, 31 percent said they did not believe they could get pregnant at the time. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1285 Nearly one in four girls who gets the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine mistakenly thinks that her risk of getting other sexually transmitted diseases is lowered, a new study indicates. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1272 Teen boys who watch a lot of TV and also have a close relationship with their mother are more susceptible to harmful stereotypical views of women and sex, but for girls, a strong attachment to mom acts as a buffer against television's negative effect on sexual views. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1213 Sexually active teens are using condoms more often, but inconsistently, finds a federal survey that asked its largest-ever sample of teens about their sex lives. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1210 Results of a study out of Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., suggest that the conception rate in March among adolescents in that region is higher than other months and could be linked to the annual break students get from their studies. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1182 Data from nationwide survey finds boys starting earlier, doing more often than girls. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1156 A University of Iowa study has found that women who first engage in sex as young teens are more likely to divorce. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1124 Gay and bisexual high school students are more likely than their heterosexual peers to use tobacco, alcohol, drugs and violence and to even have suicidal tendencies, a new study by the U.S. government has found. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1109 When looking for information about sex and sexuality, teens are searching Google for answers. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1106 The U.S. teen pregnancy rate in 2009, the latest year for which data are available, hit its lowest since tracking began 70 years ago, according to the Center for Disease Control. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1056 A growing number of teens and young adults say they've never had sexual contact with another person, according to the largest and most in-depth federal report to date on sexual behavior. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1032 The more sex partners, the more likely a man will have the cancer-linked virus, research shows. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1028 A new survey shows that 61 percent of American teens want to be virgins at marriage, yet 34 percent have little problem with sex before marriage. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1024 The long decline in teen births, which had stalled for two years, seems to be back on track, federal health officials announced. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=1012 Between 2008 and 2009, the birthrate among U.S. girls ages 15 to 19 fell 6 percent to the lowest rate in the nearly 70 years the federal government has been collecting reliable data. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=986 A new study finds link between excessive messaging and risky behavior in teens. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=956 A new study finds that teens who engage in oral sex are more likely to engage in intercourse. The three-year survey found that teens who had oral sex by the end of ninth grade were at the highest risk of having sexual intercourse during high school. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=951 A new study from New York University suggests that young women could actually use a little more talk about intimate matters from their dads. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=948 One-third of American teens aren't learning about contraceptives during sex education classes, but most of them are getting schooled in "how to say no" to sex. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=908 Study finds teen sex academically harmless in romantic relationships, but less so in causal pairings. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=878 The U.S. Center for Disease Control surveys teens every two years in order to identify trends in risky adolescent behaviors. The results of the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey have just been released. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=834 More than 40 percent of unmarried U.S. teenagers -- or 4.3 million teen males and females -- have had sex at least once, a new U.S. government report shows. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=831 Many parents don't think their kids are interested in sex, but believe that everyone else's kids are, a new study reveals. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=807 Young people may not be "hooking up" on college campuses as much as the popular culture suggests. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=12 After rising to its highest point in two decades, the rate at which women in the United States gave birth declined in 2008. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=21 80% today's young adults don't believe that oral sex should be considered as "having had sex." http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=22 As many as one in six Americans is infected with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), health officials said. The CDC estimates that 19 million new STD infections occur every year in the United States, almost half of them among young people. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=42 Adolescents who took abstinence-only sex education classes were more likely to delay having sex, a new study shows. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=70 The teen pregnancy rate in the USA rose 3% in 2006, the first increase in more than a decade. The data also show higher rates of births and abortions among girls 15-19. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=76 Teenage boys and young men may talk a lot about sex, but often the only ones listening are their peers. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=75 A new study from the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada (IMFC) revealed that teenagers who use drugs, alcohol and smoke were more likely to report engaging in sexual activity. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=79 Research finds few teenage girls are getting vaccinated for a sexually transmitted disease (HPV) linked to cervical cancer. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=101 In the latest study on parent-child talks about sex and sexuality, researchers found that more than 40% of adolescents had had intercourse before talking to their parents about safe sex, birth control or sexually transmitted diseases. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=125 Question: What happens when researchers attempt to study the views of men who have viewed porn and compare them with the views of men who haven't? Answer: They can't make the comparison because they can't find any men who haven't seen porn. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=132 As many as one in four U.S. teenage girls have had a sexually transmitted disease (STD), many infected soon after their first sexual encounter, a new government report shows. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=139 Latest statistics on chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis show the three highly treatable infections continue to spread in the United States. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=147 For college students, rates of drinking and sexual activity are higher when they live in coed dorms. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=149 Sex education is to be made compulsory for all UK pupils, prompting fury from faith groups which said that the move would contravene the right for children to be educated in accordance with their parents' beliefs. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=158 A teenage girl's weight, or perception of her weight, may affect her odds of risky sexual behavior, a new study suggests. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=178 States with populations that express strong religious beliefs also have high teenage birth rates, according to a new study. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=212 A new government report shows one in three teenage girls have rolled up their sleeves for a relatively new vaccine against cervical cancer, but vaccination rates vary dramatically between states. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=211 Dallas leads the nation in the percentage of teen births that aren't the mother's first delivery. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=232 One in three U.K. teenage girls has suffered sexual abuse from a boyfriend and one in four has experienced violence in a relationship, according to an in-depth study published recently. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=231 Children who are neglected or physically or psychologically abused are more likely to have sex at an early age, and sexually active adolescents should be evaluated for possible maltreatment, a new study found. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=260 Birth rates are up and sexually transmitted diseases are increasing among teenagers. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=280 Britain's National Health Service has a message for teens: Sex can be fun. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=289 A government drive to lower the rate of teenage pregnancies has backfired, actually increasing the number of school-age mothers in England, a study confirms today. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=291 A recently released survey from Cox Communications in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and John Walsh found that 1 in 5 teens (19%) have been involved in "sexting" - sending, receiving or forwarding sexually suggestive text messages. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=304 A new longitudinal study finds that when adolescents engage in risky sexual activity, fathers respond by increasing their efforts to supervise and monitor their children. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=345 President Obama's new budget would eliminate most money for abstinence-only sex education and shift it to teen pregnancy prevention - a U-turn in what has been more than a decade of sex education policy in the USA. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=347 The younger children are exposed to content intended for adults in television and movies, the earlier they become sexually active during adolescence, according to a new study released by Children's Hospital Boston. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=354 School-based drug education programs for adolescents can have a long-term positive impact on sexual behavior in addition to curbing substance abuse, according to a new RAND Corporation study. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=358 Recent research by the University of Texas reveals risky sexual behaviors by middle school students in a large southeastern U.S. urban public school district. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=377 Researchers from the Crimes Against Children Research Center (CCRC) found only a modest increase in the number of adults arrested for solicitation of actual minors, which could be accounted for by the growth in the number of youth Internet users. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=387 A U.S. judge barred a Pennsylvania prosecutor from filing child pornography charges against three teenage girls caught with sexually suggestive pictures of themselves on their cell phones. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=389 Does the punishment for "sexting" fit the crime? http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=400 There's still no firm proof that raunchy music makes kids have sex, but a new study provides another suggestion that there's at least some kind of link between "degrading" songs and teenage sexual activity. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=417 There's an emerging debate on whether teens who send or receive "sexts" should be charged as sexual offenders or other serious felony charges. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=435 I found the report of this study intriguing. The headline, "Study: Some Young People Don't Use Condoms as Often as They Say" provides the reader with a conclusion based on the research undertaken. But, it seems to me ... http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=449 With the exit of the Bush administration, critics of abstinence-only sex education will be making an aggressive push to cut off federal funding for what they consider an ineffective, sometimes harmful program. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=451 Religious teens differ little in sexual behavior whether or not they take a purity pledge. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=462 The teen birth rate in the United States increased in 26 of the 50 states in 2006. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=463 Religious teens lose their virginity later than those who are not religious - waiting on average three years longer than their peers, a study reported. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=465 Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=466 A recent study by the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center in Rhode Island which indicates risky sexual practices among teens are on the rise. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=479 According to the results of a survey released today by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com, 22 percent of all teen girls - and 11 percent of teen girls ages 13-16 years old - say they have electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude images of themselves. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=478 The stories of teens sending provocative photos of themselves via cell phones, and being surprised that they end up being distributed around the Internet continues. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=492 A new survey reports that unprotected sex is common among teenagers. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=499 A study of the amount of sexual content teens watch on television has revealed that those who watch more have a significantly increased likelihood of pregnancy. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=516 A 15-year-old Ohio girl faces felony charges and may have to register as a sex offender for allegedly taking nude photos of herself and sending them to her high school classmates. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=535 Levi's has released its instantly controversial "Unbutton Your Beast" ad campaign. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=546 MTV has greenlighted a sex-themed series for teens and their parents featuring relationship expert Dr. Drew Pinsky. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=555 Sexually active teen girls are twice as likely to suffer from depression than those who maintain their virginity. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=558 The pregnancy of 17-year-old Bristol Palin has increased the public consciousness of teen pregnancy. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=573 Company offers a "Safe Sex License" — a confidential identification card that gives its users access to their important STD testing information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=602 Teens are less likely to engage in risky sex if families spend more time at the dinner table and "having fun", researchers say. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=615 Statistics on teens and online pornography. http://www.homeword.com/blog_info.php?articles_id=618