Adolescent health brief
Adolescents tell us why teens have oral sex

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Abstract

Adolescents’ perceived reasons why teens have oral sex ranged from physical pleasure, improving intimate relationships, reducing risks associated with vaginal sex, the influence of substances, and social factors such as reputation concerns and peer experiences.

Section snippets

Methods

Participants were 425 ninth-grade adolescents (mean age = 14.53, SD = .57; 64% female) participating in the second wave of a longitudinal school-based study on the relationship between risk perceptions and sexual activity. The methods and procedures of the study are reported elsewhere [9]. Parental and adolescent consent was obtained from all participants, and the Institutional Review Board at the University of California, San Francisco, approved the study.

Only participants who answered the

Results

Table 1 lists the participants’ perceived reasons why adolescents have oral sex, in descending frequency. The reasons listed included consideration of physical pleasure and satisfying curiosity, social considerations including improving one’s relationship or being popular, and risk avoidance. The participants also indicated that adolescents have oral sex because their peers influence them, or because they feel pressured, forced, or fearful, although the specific nature of this pressure was not

Discussion

Although previous studies have examined adolescents’ perceptions and attitudes associated with having vaginal as compared to oral sex [7], [9], this study asks young adolescents to list reasons why teens have oral sex. The results from this study provide insight from the adolescents’ perspective, with important implications for educators and health care providers. These results confirm the suggestion from previous studies that adolescents have oral sex to avoid risks associated with having

Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by grants awarded to Dr. Halpern-Felsher from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant no. R01 HD41349), and the William T. Grant Foundation (grant no. 2363). The authors gratefully acknowledge Eric Peterson and Rhonda Kropp for their assistance on the manuscript, as well as the participation of the adolescents and school administrators.

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