NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly one-tenth of sexually active New York City high school students say they have had at least one same-sex partner, and teens who say they’ve had sexual contact with both sexes report higher-than-average rates of dating violence, forced sex and risky sexual behavior, a new study says.
The study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics analyzed 17,220 public health surveys and found that more than a third of teens who had same-sex encounters identified themselves as straight. Advocates said the results point to the need for public health messages to target behavior, not identity.
It’s troubling, though not surprising, that the youths who reported encounters with both sexes also had higher rates of risky behavior and violence, said Dr. Susan Blank, assistant commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
“It has been shown in the literature that students who have both male and female partners have a lot of adverse health problems,” she said.
The report is based on surveys administered in New York City high schools in 2005 and 2007. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is distributed every two years by the health department to a representative sampling of city high schools.
Of the students who completed the survey, 7,261 said they had had sexual intercourse. The survey asked questions including the number of sex partners in the teen’s lifetime, as well as in the previous three months, and whether there was a history of forced sex or dating violence.
Among the sexually active males, 93.1 percent said they had had sexual contact only with female partners, 3.2 percent said they’d had contact only with other males, and 3.7 percent said they’d had both male and female partners.
Among the sexually active females, 88.1 percent said they’d had sex only with males, 3.2 percent said they’d had only female partners and 8.7 percent said they’d had partners of both sexes.
Of all the sexually active teens, 9.3 percent reported at least one same-sex partner.
Study author Preeti Pathela, a research scientist at the health department, said that there are no comparable national numbers but that other states have reported lower numbers of teens who have had partners of the same or both sexes.
Students also were asked whether they considered themselves straight, gay or lesbian, bisexual, or “not sure.” Of the teens with at least one same-sex partner, 38.9 percent answered “heterosexual or straight.”
Other studies have shown a similar divergence between behavior and sexual identity, but Blank said this study provides a reminder that “our public health prevention messages really need to look at behavior, not identity.”
The study found that teens who reported partners of both sexes also reported higher-than-average rates of risky sexual practices, such as not using a condom during intercourse, as well as higher rates of partner violence and forced sex.
Of the girls with both male and female partners, 35.8 percent said they had experienced dating violence in the previous year. Of the boys with both male and female partners, 34.8 percent reported it in the previous year.
Far lower percentages of teens with only male or only female partners answered yes to the question about dating violence.
Of the males who reported both male and female partners, just 44.1 percent said they’d used a condom during their last sexual encounter.
The percentages for condom use during their last sex were 79.8 for males with only female partners and 62.3 for males with only same-sex partners.
Laura Lindberg, senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute, which focuses on sexual and reproductive health issues, said the teens with male and female partners “are obviously facing challenges.”
“These are kids in New York City where there’s more awareness and perhaps acceptance of non-heterosexual behavior, and you’re still finding such high reports of risk behavior and violence,” Lindberg said.
Thomas Krever, executive director of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a youth advocacy organization that runs an alternative high school for gay teens in New York City, said the survey results did not surprise him.
Many teens with partners of both sexes lack supportive adults and peers in their lives and may experience depression because social stigma, Krever said.
“Young people who are exhibiting characteristics of depression and lower self-worth can indeed place themselves in more risky situations including risky sexual practices,” he said.
Blank, who heads the health department’s efforts to fight sexually transmitted diseases, said teens need to get the message that help is available.
She said health department clinics will test anyone over 12 for sexually transmitted diseases free of charge.
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Online: http://www.nyc.gov/health
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rfycom
Posted on October 26, 2010 at 8:32amWe Christians have risky sex all the time. Just last week I had sex with a one legged woman. Got her propped up on a stump. Well, stump on stump. Got her all jacked up on passion and kicked the stump out from under the stump and hung on. What a wild ride. Us old folks are having the risky sex. We getting more STDs then the youngings, but who cares.
Report Post »We Are Not Alone
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 7:07pmSince the decay of the family (not all), schools, church’s etc perhaps it’s time to try a new experiment. The hippies of the 60’s became complacent and let the kids do ‘their’ own thing so THEY would feel good about themselves. Now we pay the price. What would have happened if we had taken a different road, the military style for schools…. GOD, Uniforms, cleanliness, discipline, fitness & respect. What would have happened? Or to quote Van Jones we should tap into the minds of criminals in our jails because they have so much to offer. Everybody deserves a second chance but given a choice I’d take a military person over a person who has broken the law.
Report Post »Red1492
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 11:15amPlease, please don’t tell me our tax dollars go to support “studies” like this. Teens are risky about everything. What else is new?
Report Post »RKade
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 11:12amWhat did you expect?
Man and Woman, Man and Man & Woman and Woman are all now being declared as one and the same.
Morals and health have both been discounted.
Report Post »jimhill58
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 9:11amWhat do you expect when they are told and taught that being gay is normal. Next it will be having sex with animals. But me and poochie have a special relationship!
Report Post »neverending
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 10:17amThat is probably already happening. They just haven’t published the book on it yet.
Report Post »starman70
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 11:07amSome farmers know about “Stump-breakin” cattle.
Report Post »Rapunzel
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 4:16pmThat is coming…and not just bestiality. It’s a natural progression coming from belief in Darwin instead of God. After all, if sexual attraction is determined genetically and is amoral, then it follows logically that any and all forms of sexuality are acceptable. Bestiality, pedophilia, necrophilia – all perfectly normal and if you think or say otherwise you must be a bigoted hate-monger. What we tolerate, our children will embrace.
Report Post »jerryod1627
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 8:07amSame sex partners don’t reproduce. Could this be another way to control the population of the world?
Report Post »starman70
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 8:32amWhy do you think the population control freaks in the liberal establishment push so hard to legitimize it?
Report Post »warner
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 8:01amSounds alot like Rome of the past! Will we ever learn from history?
Report Post »starman70
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 8:30amWhat’s history? I don’t think they teach it anymore.
Report Post »Sara
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 7:41amwere there any non sexually active high school kids in NYC? Good grief…. I wasn’t in high school very long ago… about 5 yrs, I went to a school with over 2,500 students, and our stats would have been wildly different that this, 5 yrs ago anyway…
Report Post »angelcat
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 7:39amThis is no surprise since sex is pushed at these kids at every turn and many have no morals taught at home or school and don‘t go to church or are told by the media that what the church’s teach should be ignored since it is not politically correct and the 10 Commandments are out-of-date. From what I can tell, homosexuality is pushed as the sexuality of choice and kids are almost encouraged to try it in the name of “tolerance” and “inclusiveness”. It is also trendy and poltically correct now. So many teens do what these kids do and end up with disease, violence, or just be morally bankrupt, which is probably the worst of all the consequences.
Report Post »neverending
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 10:08amYou are exactly right – there are no morals and especially among the parents. We have lowered the bar so far that everything is justifiable and okay and “oh they’re just having fun” and on and on as this country falls deeper into decay. When we see a “so called christian” Mother and Father sit and root for their daughter laying on the floor before she performs her sexual, sensual dance and then says she is over the top proud of her daughter? When do we wake up????
Report Post »EP46
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 6:49amThe Liberal Progressives and the ACLU have spent years taking away parental rights and encouraging this type of behavior as a way to destroy the morals of our society and to break down the family unit. Destroy our Churches, destroy our morals, destroy the family and you can destroy the Republic. Parents say ‘don’t‘ and schools say ’this is what you can do and this is how you can do it’.
Report Post »starman70
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 8:28amAnd then the liberals can ask for MORE and MORE tax dollars to do more “Studies” and government programs in order to “Fix” the problem. YEAH RIGHT! Government programs have never fixed anything.
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 5:21amwhat fun is life without a little risk?
Report Post »BlazingPatriot
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 3:44pm@Butcher: Obviously, you do not have any children, and if you do, your comment shows that you are off your rocker!
Report Post »TreeTrimmerJim
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 4:28amI have a friend with a T-shirt that says… Remember when sex was safe and riding a motorcycle was dangerous?
Report Post »BoilitDown
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 3:50amWhat else is to be expected when Western Civilization so widely celebrates abhorrent behavior? Couple that with the internet and parents not teaching self control and you’ve got the formula for exactly these results. You don’t have to be an Edgar Cayce or employ the use of Webbot to predict this kind of news.
Report Post »Okpulot Taha
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 2:30amHere is a copy of the 2007 year survey: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/survey/YRBS07-survey.pdf
I have issues with what is being reported by Associated Press. I have not been able to find a copy of this report published by “Pediatrics” to examine. Still looking, though.
My issue is questions on this survey cited above are limited in scope and there are few question per topic category. No in-depth conclusions can be drawn upon such limited information.
Dr. Susan Blank is cited, “that the youths who reported encounters with both sexes also had higher rates of risky behavior and violence”
This conclusion of hers cannot be made based upon limited information returned by this survey.
Here is an example of how surveys can be skewed. This study:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/report/yrbs_report042008.pdf
is based upon survey of students living in East Harlem, Central Harlem, South Bronx and the Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick areas. I would expect violence and crime to be higher in those areas and this would not be related to sexual behaviors of teenagers.
I am skeptical this “Pediatrics” report reflects reality.
Okpulot Taha
Report Post »Choctaw Nation
robert5635
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 1:23amWonder if anyone out there is aware of a degenerative, sexually transmitted disease in the area of the phillipines. Was shown films of said disease by the USAF before going to clark AB. You get it there, they write you off as dead, and you can’t come back to the States forever. Makes AIDS and leprosy look really good. Open sores everywhere at minimum, open holes, missing jaws/cheeks while fully alive and aware. If that doesn’t frighten you, you’ve been watching too much freddie, cause that‘s what you’d look like.
Report Post »joseph Fawcett
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 1:21amIt is a shame that these kids have to start dealing with any of this stuff before they are out of high school. Where are the morals and standards of purity until marriage. Teen sex is an important issue and should be dealt with. Behavior is important, not engaging in it is the best way to deal with it.
http://www.josephfawcettart.com western artist
Report Post »cognitivedissonance
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 1:16amPersonally, I like the list of states that have the highest rate of teen pregnancies.
1. Nevada (113)
2. Arizona (104)
3. Mississippi (103)
4. New Mexico (103)
5. Texas (101)
6. Florida (97)
7. California (96)
8. Georgia (95)
9. North Carolina (95)
10. Arkansas (93)
Yeah, most of those states are real hotbeds of liberalism.
Report Post »flagkeeper
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 2:23amI wonder what the abortion stats look like…
Report Post »cognitivedissonance
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 2:42amthose are pregnancy rates, not live birth rates
these are the live birth rates:
States ranked by rates of live births among women age 15-19 (births per thousand):
1. Mississippi (71)
2. Texas (69)
3. Arizona (67)
4. Arkansas (66)
5. New Mexico (66)
6. Georgia (63)
7. Louisiana (62)
8. Nevada (61)
9. Alabama (61)
10. Oklahoma (60)
The teen abortion rates are pretty much what you would expect, but most of the states with the top abortion rates have the lower rates of teen pregnancies.
States ranked by rates of abortion among women age 15-19 (pregnancies per thousand):
1. New Jersey (47)
2. New York (46)
3. Maryland (38)
4. Nevada (36)
5. California (36)
6. Hawaii (34)
7. Florida (33)
8. Delaware (31)
9. Connecticut (30)
10. Illinois (27)
States like Louisiana and Mississippi have the highest rates of chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhea.
http://www.avert.org/std-statistics-america.htm
but New York has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates
http://www.avert.org/usa-states-cities.htm
Report Post »whitaker
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 8:01amTwo things with your list. First if its based on population its inacurate. Second notice all the border states listed, which would includes illegals from mexico.
Report Post »cognitivedissonance
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 1:21pmAll I am trying to point out is that it is kind of silly to draw a connection between liberalism and moral or sexual turpitude.
Report Post »JaneLovesJesus
Posted on October 26, 2010 at 11:21pm“Teens” can be 18 or 19, which, or course, are adults. Wondering if a married 19 year old woman gets lumped into the ‘teen pregnancy’ stats.
Report Post »robert5635
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 1:03amThese liberals infect the hearts and minds of children with sex ‘education’ but can’t get them to learn how to read, write, and do arithmetic. Then they sponsor studies to ‘find out why they have risky sexual behavior’. They would have done better to fix a millstone ’round their neck and jump into the sea, than cause any offense to befall these children by way of their liberal, sodomy encouraging agenda. Is no wonder that AIDS, leprosy, and other sexually transmitted diseases are running amok. Why should any straight person have to pay for AIDS research or treatments, when we’re not living a risky life-style by CHOICE? Suppose I gotta pay to rebuild a rich person’s third, fourth, and fifth house that gets destroyed after each hurricane ont the coast too.
Report Post »Wdawg
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 1:22amLeprosy is a STD?! It is important to fund research that tries to find cures for disease, as these diseases have the ability to mutate and could affect what you say as a “straight person”.
Report Post »Deutscher
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 2:38amWhat an ignorant attitude. When you get heart disease from your lifestyle, don’t take any of the meds created from research I helped fund.
Report Post »Surely you are nit that stupid.
Noonien_Soong
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 7:16amLiberal ideology has morphed and grown like the government they want. Once their ideas have been used and abused they grow more to satisfy an unfulfilled thirst for control and power.
Report Post »I once remember a classic Si-Fi movie called Forbidden Planet where an ethereal power being from the planet’s interior [soul] was an incarnation called the monster of the ID which is of the imagination. Liberal progressivism, the monster of the ID is the boogeyman’s idea of the liberal left.
moriarty70
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 9:09amRight, heterosexuals NEVER engage in risky sexual behaviour, all those teenage preganancies are immaculate. And why do heterosexual’s also provide funding for AIDS studies as well? Since it crossed over from “minority communities” it became everyone’s problem.
Report Post »Jerley
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 12:04pmLess than 2% of AID‘s recipients fall into the unknown reason for contracting AID’s (some of these just lie). The rest fall into Sexually depraved behavior, IV drug users, Medical accidents, and dental worker transmission (I submit the last 3 are caused by the first 1).
Report Post »Even at Sodom and Gomorrah, God allowed innocents to die for their refusal to turn their backs on sinful behavior. Fire and brimstone has been tried and Deviants didn’t learn the lessons. AID’s has a longer learning curve god I hope will never unwrap those secrets.
Give aid, comfort and compassion till their death finely comes and pray for their ability to ask for their individual salvation.
Sadly this is a war, and some innocent die in all wars, I do hope these are the ones that couldn’t resist the temptation of looking back and not truly innocent, but I pray for them as if innocent just incase.
TruthTalker
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 12:39amWhat? The x-box and Playstation dont provide values??? I am shocked.
Report Post »snowleopard3200
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 1:16amDoes it come as a shock to anyone lately that what is happening in New York can find its counter part within California – as both are dominated by the Progressive movements?
http://www.artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm (mix art)
Report Post »Elura cookoo girl
Posted on October 25, 2010 at 7:11pmYOu know a lot of schools teach that abstinence is the best way to not get an STD, and they do put fear in the children‘s brain when they show them pictures of people with STD’s. But then they always state the facts on how effective condom and birth control is. What they should teach, is that no matter what religion or no religion, every human being is special, and your body is worth something. That sex is the most intimate thing you can do with another person, and that they should save it for someone special, and they should be mentally prepared to deal with the emotions and responsibility of that.
Report Post »GeoBible
Posted on March 6, 2011 at 7:01pmYou are quite slow at finding that out: It is quite acceptable in society so kids expierment. It starts at a very early age VERY early age. Kids sleeping together , Taking baths together, Hearing it on all news and media everywhere. I retired to Tennessee and was really shocked at how bad it is here and young girls at age eight and up and perhaps younger. Then the have rollmodels with their parents that have been doing the same thing since they were young. Sometimes they get their start with Grand Parents and Mother and father molestation them. I was riding somewhere with a man to do a job and he had told me several times about how he preached at church now and then and was always quoting scripture and then he came right out of nowhere with this statement , My wife’s Granddaughter lived with me and my wife and her grandaughter would get in bed with us and we would both take turns with having our way with her. That was putting mildly . I was shocked and did not know what to say and I find it to be common practice here in tennessee~~~ anything goes seems to be the norm. He went on to say she is now in her 30′s . Another young girl came out of the blue with a lot of statments about where her and her cousins do about 6 of them and it was nothing to tell me about it and her grandparents I have caught doing things and her real mother and grandmother on the other side etc. The girl at 8 or 9 yrs old was asking me to buy her a guitar for Christmas and she continued to beg for me to get it and went on to say I‘ll give you face and at that time I did not think it could be what she was talking about so I didn’t bother to ask what she meant. But she went on to do an act like she had a hair in her throat and was picking it out and she had not been around anything at all to get anything in her throat so I figured she was showing me what she meant. I am quite disgusted with this whole area and everyone on welfare , Drugs/crystal meth and they are all disgusting. In churches preachers are not doing their job teaching scripture it is all about money instead of preaching they are trying to get you to pay your ti’s I found many churches to be quite lacking in what they should be doing. And the people going to church and paying their ti’s are some of the ones that are doing these things. I’m sick of it all. The fix starts with media and next the church and Family getting back to the old values. There is no way to turn this world around unless . I tell you how we could do it step by step.
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