Drinking in Middle School Tied to Risky Sex

[The Straight Story]

Drinking in Middle School Tied to Risky Sex

Reuters Health

By Alison McCook

Friday, May 6, 2005

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids who begin drinking in the 7th grade are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior in mid-adolescence - but parents can make a difference in their kids' drinking habits, researchers have shown.

In a new study, U.S. investigators found that students who said they started drinking by the 7th grade were more likely to say they had unprotected sex, multiple partners, sex while drunk or high, or been pregnant.

In another related study, a group of researchers showed that middle-schoolers who binge drink -- downing at least 5 drinks on one occasion -- are more likely to binge drink in high school.

However, kids who said their parents were involved in their lives -- communicated well with them, were reasonable, and moderately supervised their activities -- were less likely to say they tried binge drinking. This suggests that parents can influence kids' choices, the researchers write.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_24525.html

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. I doubt there's a direct corolation.

It's probably more like a link between not paying enough attention to your kids and BOTH drinking and sex.

[Drifter]

2. Yes ... you got it ...

It is more likely that those children who have opportunity and ability to get away with drinking, will most likely have the opportunity and ability to get away with sex.

Cheers
Drifter

[TWiley]

3. The link between alcohol and sex has been well established.

I really doubt if a parent could talk their children out of doing either when that "time" in their life comes.

I would assume that most who started drinking in the 7th grade, and continued to do so, would develop into alcoholics who experience blackouts.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

6. The link ISN'T between alcohol and sex directly though.

Alcohol is NOT some kind of pheromone. Alcohol does NOT cause anyone to have sex. All alcohol does is lower one's inhibitions to the point where they don't care about the repercussions of having sex. That's it.

[LizW]

8. So what's the difference?

Seems to me that not caring about the repercussions of having sex is definitely more likely to result in middle schoolers having sex.

Sounds like a pretty direct link to me.

[CornField]

4. I didn't drink at all until after I graduated high school

Still, I had lots of fun dates. :D

In my experience, the boys and girls who drank and then had sex (or other forms of intimacy) had *big* hang-ups with sex. It was as if they found the whole thing to be too dirty of a proposition to enter into while sober. Or maybe they needed the guilt crutch that alcohol would provide.

[JHB]

5. Not surprising...

...that kids who have sufficient lack of supervision that they can binge-drink in middle school also have sufficent lack of supervision to continue doing so in high school, and this same lack of supervision (and inebriation) coincide with a trend to risky sexual behavior.

And surprise! More involved parenting results in lower rates of engaging in activites the parents frown upon.

Now if only they'd note that it's not necessarily the alcohol, it's the lack of supervision that's the problem, so that it shouldn't be a federal offense for a teenager at a family gathering to have a glass of wine or beer.

[The Animator]

7. Yes, I believe, drinking can lead to risky sex...

There is a higher risk of injury during sex if the participants are drunk. Chandelier sex becomes very risky if you are intoxicated. Stairway sex, is very dangerous without a propper sense of balance. On top of the refrigerator sex, potentially deadly in the absence of precise motion control. Sex under the stage at a rock concert could be a big mistake if you are not aware of your proximity to the pyro. Then there are the extremely high risk categories like, sex on a busy freeway, sex on a battlefield, sex during a Redneck bar brawl, sex in the girls house when her father is home, and sex at Bob Jones University.

[kwassa]

9. I hear that middle school sex while driving AND drinking might

be risky, too.

It's hard to say, though.

[kentuck]

10. Call 60 Minutes !

Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker...

[Toucano]

12. Let's hold congressional hearings!

"The Commission on Studies that Reveal the Obvious"

Assemble a panel!

[jburton]

11. Drinking at Middle Age Tied to Risky Sex

nt

[aeolian]

13. Wow. What a revelation.

:sarcasm:

[MsTryska]

14. ermm....drinking in ANY school leads to risky sex.

hell drinking and not being in school cna lead to be some pretty risky sex too.