Sexual activity among 7th graders

November 5, 2021 1:47 PM

Vaginal intercourse:12% Oral sex: 8% Anal sex: 6.5%--shocking or not?
posted by BadgerDoctor (17 comments total)

Not shocking. Puberty happens when it does.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 2:15 PM on November 5, 2021 [4 favorites]

I'm thinking back through my several years of professional experience in survey methodology design for sensitive topics and hard-to-reach populations, and I don't know if it is possible to account for the fact that a significant number of 7th graders would think that there is nothing funnier than telling some stuffy scientist nerds that they have anal sex every week.
posted by theodolite at 2:26 PM on November 5, 2021 [25 favorites]

Yeah, I was thinking how these responses could possibly be useful or accurate.
posted by star gentle uterus at 2:29 PM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

You give kids fully functional (for most of them by that time) equipment for pleasure and you tell them that they have to wait three to five years (depending on local age of consent) before using it with other people and some of them have other plans? Oh the heck you say Mx. Scientist.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:31 PM on November 5, 2021

theodolite: thank you for phrasing that better than I could. Yeah, I am quite skeptical about the veracity of kids' responses.
posted by rmd1023 at 2:32 PM on November 5, 2021

per one of my spouse's graduate school friends, "there's not a lot to do in $(insert rural mid-western community here)".
posted by roue at 2:32 PM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

This study is from 2009. Data was collected in 2004-2005.
posted by Gerald Bostock at 2:32 PM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

whether I am shocked depends on how these rates compare to populations of the same age in different demographic cohorts and to the same age and demographic but in decades past
posted by Jon_Evil at 2:33 PM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

there were definitely kids having sex when I was that age (not me) but I didn't even have the slightly concept of the buttsex. at 12????
posted by supermedusa at 2:36 PM on November 5, 2021

Yeah, 2004-2005 data. So the numbers are probably significantly lower now since most tracking surveys of sexual behavior among teens have been going down over the past 30 years (overall ever has had sex among teens has gone from low 60%s to low 50%s from 2005-ish to 2017, for example).

I'm much more credulous than many of you that the data in question is probably accurate, at least to within a normal degree of accuracy. That is based on my experience with smoking rates/initiation I work with professionally. Which although is a smaller taboo there still exists one for under-18.

It's also a very specific cohort (which of course is real and matters):

Seventh-grade students from 10 middle schools in a large urban public school district in the southeastern United States (n = 3007) served as the target population for this study. A total of eighty-nine percent of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, an indicator of low socioeconomic status.

They also needed parental permission, speak English well enough, and a number of factors that limited participation, so I am not particularly "shocked" by the numbers by in isolation aren't super valuable to talk about American young teenagers.
posted by skynxnex at 2:38 PM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

Teen Boys Losing Virginity Earlier And Earlier, Report Teen Boys
posted by justkevin at 2:45 PM on November 5, 2021 [3 favorites]

Glanced through the study, didn't see any mention of questions designed to weed out potential pranksters.

What's the word for that? I know there is a term for that.
posted by ®@ at 2:50 PM on November 5, 2021

1) That honestly sounds about right but 2) Are you seriously expecting 13 year olds to offer a sober, honest, unexaggerated assessment of their sex life? Have you met 13 year olds?
posted by thivaia at 2:50 PM on November 5, 2021

But these numbers don't seem implausible to me. I remember dutifully filling out surveys like this in 7th grade. It honestly never occurred to me to lie.
posted by ®@ at 2:52 PM on November 5, 2021

My PARENTS thought it would be hilarious if I just said "yes" to everything on the form, but I think we only had two surveys like this, and I forgot their advice by the time the 2nd one rolled around. Kicked myself after handing it in.
posted by ®@ at 2:54 PM on November 5, 2021

Damn, I was barely even aware of girls when I was in 7th grade...
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:01 PM on November 5, 2021

I don't remember ever taking a survey like this, but I do remember having sex at 13. Then at 15. Then at 16. 17. 18. And so on. I didn't feel particularly advanced for my age, just horny and a teenager.
posted by gwydapllew at 3:03 PM on November 5, 2021