Underage sex linked to single-parent families
A British study stresses home environment as key to forming youthful attitudes.

Teenagers whose parents are still married to each other are far less likely to have underage sex, according to a new report which will re-ignite political debate over whether governments should do more to encourage family values. The study, based on responses from more than 2,250 youngsters aged between 13 and 15, makes direct links between teenagers' home environments and attitudes towards sex.

It also blames magazines aimed at teenage girls for encouraging them to lose their virginity and contributing to a climate of social acceptance of casual sex.

The report, to be presented to the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group tomorrow, says the married couple family where parents have good relationships with their offspring are the least likely to have children involved in underage sex.

Therefore, there needs to be "a strong emphasis upon mar riage as the ideal type of family unit for raising children".

The study, by the Family Matters Institute, involved questionnaires completed under supervision in 21 schools. It found that 18% of boys and 15% of girls had had sex. More than seven in 10 who had not had sex came from a family where parents were married to each other, compared with only half of the teenagers who were sexually active.

Responses suggested that 23% of teenagers whose parents were divorced had underage sex, compared with 14% from similar backgrounds who had not. The survey also indicated that teenagers were twice as likely to have had sex if their parents were separated or if their parents were cohabiting rather than married.

The report says the family type often reflects weaker parent-teenager relationships, more infrequent contact and less supervision. Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe, with figures for England and Wales in 1998 revealing 101,500 conceptions and 62,900 live births.

The report concludes that: "Until the parents of young teenagers begin to take more responsibility for their children's behaviour , the level of underage sex will not decline and teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease will continue to rise."

The survey indicates that three in four parents of sexually active 13-year-old girls do not know their daughters are no longer virgins and that one in five young teenagers lost their virginity when they were drunk. A quarter of sexually active 13-year-olds have had four or more sexual partners.

The report also suggests that Britain is becoming more of a matriarchal society with young teenagers, even in "intact" families , having a far closer relationship with their mothers than fathers.

Only about 2% nationally of single parent families are thought to be headed by the father and most of these are because of bereavement rather than divorce. It is almost standard practice in divorce courts for custody of children to be given to the mother.

The lack of a male role model for many boys, even sometimes in schools which have mainly women teachers, needs investigation, says the report.

Boys who do not have meaningful contact with men "are likely to find difficulty in forming stable relationships with members of the opposite sex. It is also likely to be an impediment to successful parenting," it adds.

Gerald Howarth MP, chairman of the parliamentary group, says in a foreword to the report, Does Your Mother Know?, that parents "cannot subcontract" the responsibility for raising their children. But people in public life and the media also had to support good parenting.

"As this report reveals, magazines preoccupied with sex and claiming to be aimed at young adults are being read by significant numbers of children as young as 13.

"Some of those responsible for publishing the material are either oblivious to its nature or, worse still, are only interested in exploiting vulnerable people for commercial gain."

Source: James Meikle, health correspondent, The Guardian (London), Monday July 23, 2001