The Effects of Sexual Activity on Adolescent Well-Being

Ann Meier, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Until recently, the average age at which young people in the United States began having sex had steadily decreased. Naturally, this trend has generated a good deal of research on adolescent sexual activity. Most of this literature concentrates on determining what affects early sex rather than what early sex affects among teens. However, in 1996 Congress enacted a new abstinence-only education initiative proporting that sexual activity among teens has harmful psychological, social and physical effects. The extant literature supports the proposition that teen sex exposes adolescents to pregnancy and STDs, and that these outcomes should be considered “harmful.” However, there is little empirical evidence on the psychological and social effects of teen sex. Using two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this paper investigates the effects of sex on adolescent mental health, attitudes and values, and relationships with parents.