Looking Ahead Promotes Abstinence Among Teen Girls

Focusing on the future may help deter teenage girls from having risky sex, according to a new study.

The latest findings revealed that girls between the ages of 14 and 19 who are more confident, driven and mature were significantly less likely to be sexually active.

Researchers Dr. Aurora Torres and Kelly Arnold from the University of Alabama in Huntsville monitored posts on Internet forums used by teen girls to assess their degree of maturity and confidence related to their sexual behavior. For the study, Torres and Arnold identified screen names of girls and followed the girls' posts for six months. Afterwards, they categorized them by their attitudes about sex.

The study categorized girls' attitudes of sexual behavior as either believing sexual activity was wrong, believing it was OK, or having already become active but feeling guilty about it, according to news release.

Researchers then analyzed the girls' posts to see whether the girls were asking for information and advice or giving information and advice. Researchers also noted grammatical and spelling errors.

"I noted each girl's attitude towards adolescent sexual behavior, and I then observed what positions they took on the forums and whether they gave advice or took it," Arnold said in a news release.

Researchers said that they tracked the posts passively.

"If they knew they were being watched they could have acted differently," Arnold explained.

"I didn't see any relationship between their numerical age and how they acted or their maturity and confidence levels," Arnold said.

However, researchers found a link between sexual activity and girls' maturity and confidence levels. Surprisingly, the more mature and confident the girls were, the less likely to were to be engaged in risk-taking behavior like sex.

"Giving advice indicates greater confidence than asking for advice, and girls who thought that it was best to wait until adulthood to engage in sexual behavior were more likely to be giving advice than girls who thought having sex as a teenager was OK," Arnold said.

Researchers believe the girls' decision for abstinence may be driven by their future goals and priorities.

"If you choose to abstain, you are protecting your future goals but you may have as a result some negative pressures right now" like peer pressure or media portrayals of sex.

Researchers said that latest findings reveal potential problems of abstinence education as it is targeted to future-oriented girls. However, future-oriented girls are the least likely to be sexually active in the first place. Arnold recommends that abstinence programs be restructured to focus more on the short-term benefits of not having sex.

"I think one good thing for those programs to talk more about is how to handle the peer pressure," she said.

The study, "Attitudes and Confidence Regarding Sexual Activity in Teenaged Girls Assessed from Language in Social Media," was presented at the Mid South Psychology Conference (MSPC) and to the Committee on Equality of Professional Opportunity (CEPO).