Free Custom «Physical Development in Adolescence: Special Concerns about Teenage Sexual Activity» Essay Paper

Sexually transmitted Diseases and Adolescents

Nowadays, teenagers experience great influence of constantly marketed erotic content on the TV and the Internet. Unlimited access to sites with explicit content, sexual implications in magazines, books, and other sources on the mass media communication persuade teenagers into thinking that “sex appeal” is what each person should long for. This affects the sexual activity of the youngsters. Lack of parental supervision and inadequate sexual education spill over into problem with such sexually transmitted diseases as: HIV, AIDS, gonorrhea, HPV, etc. It is caused by many reasons, and essentially, a young man yet has not sufficient experience and knowledge. Frequent change of sexual partners among young people is a phenomenon, quite common in our time (ethics of sexual behavior is regarded as obsolete), as well as ignorance of contraceptive methods, especially condoms, etc. In addition, influence and social factors play a significant role too, for example, belonging to certain ethnic groups, poverty, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse. It should be noted that STDs in adolescence have dangerous consequences - very few teenagers have recourse to their parents or to anonymous support centers, due to shyness, fear of parents` reaction, and simple lack of education. A child who is not treated, not only continues to infect his/her sexual partners, but also runs the risk of quite serious complications, including infertility. I believe that sexual desire is one of the strongest human instincts, but culture, education, and self-education can help to influence appetence and control it.

Teenage Pregnancy

Who is at risk for Teenage parenthood? Teenage pregnancy is the most feared problem of a teenage girl`s parents. The future mother is too infantile to provide an adequate development of her child and a worthy education, not to mention the fact that a teenage girl does not have the means for the maintenance of herself and the newborn. In addition, an adolescent girl`s early pregnancy can be very dangerous. The main burden of problems, associated with premature pregnancy, commonly bears on the shoulders of the girl`s parents, . Often the father of a newborn dodges the responsibility. Far from rare are cases, when the girl, after giving birth, leaves the baby at her relatives` upbringing, or just abandons a child in the hospital, and continues to live as if nothing happened. Teenage pregnancy rarely ends in the birth of a child, even less often – in the birth of a healthy child, and in very exceptional cases, when the birth of the baby is a joy to his parents. Even if in a few years, if the mother decides to rear her own child, she would face a person, psychologically unfamiliar to her. Many young mothers act too carelessly towards their children, and later run the risk of suffering because of their genetrixes` negligence. In such cases, all involved sides are exposed to the risk of psychological, health, and ?financial difficulties, which may lead to troublesome consequences.

The impact of teenage pregnancy. The effects of such pregnancy are directed not only towards the youngster`s health condition, but also towards her child, who is more likely to be raised in deprivation, to undergo cruelty and neglect, to be behind in his school classes, or to be subjected to feel his/her inferiority among companions. If the child is a girl, she is more likely to follow her mother`s footsteps, and give birth to a baby in juvenile age. Delinquency and adult crimes are quite spread among children from a one-parent family. An early childbearing is fraught with low self-esteem, high rate of dropping out of high school, low level of education attainment (this respectively limits the girl`s chances for career development), and complications for the single mother to create a family with a child from a different man.

Forced Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse can vary from physical to non-contact one. Physical abuse often includes masturbation, digital penetration, fondling genitals, oral-genital contact, and vaginal/anal intercourse, and non-contact abuse includes child pornography, voyeurism and exposure. Child abuse is also possible. The impact of sexual abuse depends on the level of its severity. Abuse involving high degrees of physical force and members of family is the most serious one, but often teenagers suppress the fact of abuse, and afterwards suffer a number of behavioral and psychological problems, such as guilt, depression, fear of the opposite sex, etc.

Conclusion  

The topic “Special Concerns about Teenage Sexual Activity” is interesting to me, because it helps to understand what perils may threat our future children, and how to prevent them. The time will come, and we will tell them about everything we have learned in our life, that`s why we should be prepared and well-informed about all possible precautions, to provide our children a better tomorrow. This topic is supposed to remain up-to-date in the future, because people remain the same, and their instincts, and desires do not alter. Consequently, I suppose that lectures on teenage abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases will be useful for parents and their children. I would recommend a marvelous movie, entitled “Kids” that reflects the close-to-life modern teenage living, with its sexual activity, drug and alcohol abuse during the mid-90-ies.