Stable family life 'reduces teen sex'

Family breakdown has been linked to underage sex

Teenagers whose parents are married are far less likely to have underage sex, a report suggests.

The Family Matters Institute quizzed 2,250 adolescents aged 13-15 about sex.

The institute says its findings show that teenagers are less likely to have sex if their parents are married, keep an eye on what they do, and set strict guidelines.

It adds that teenagers are less likely to have underage sex if their parents are religious and have clear standards of morality - which they discuss with their children.

But the conclusions have been attacked by supporters of single-parents and sex education.

Children of married parents are the least likely to engage in underage sex

Gerald Howarth,
Chair of the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group

The report, entitled 'Does Your Mother Know?', was compiled for the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group.

Gerald Howarth MP, chair of the group, said "Every study has shown incontrovertibly that marriage and stable family life provide the best framework for bringing up children.

"'Does Your Mother Know?' reinforces that message through its findings - that the children of married parents are the least likely to engage in underage sex."

Parents

The report found 58% of those who have not had a sexual experience say they have a very good relationship with their mother, compared to 43% of those who have.

Fewer than one in three sexually active girls said they were given any parental rules about boyfriends.

The survey also found:

• A quarter of sexually active 13-15 year olds, have had four or more sexual partners
• A "significant increase" in the number of teenagers who have had a sexually transmitted disease
• One in five say they lost their virginity while drunk
• Almost two-thirds of girls aged 13-15 who are sexually active say they spend their spare time "just hanging around outside"
• 72% of parents of girls aged 13 who are sexually active do not know their daughters are having sex.

A report published in 1999 by Dr Clifford Hill, one of the authors of the new report, claimed 17% of 13-15 year olds were sexually active.

Dr Hill said: "The simple fact is that the family environment and the relationship between husband and wife can have a very real effect on the children.

He said parents should start talking about sexual behaviour and morality with 10,11 and 12-year-olds.

'Blight'

Professor Martin Richards, director of the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge, backed the report.

He said: "Britain has a high rate of teenage pregnancy and, most disturbingly, the rate is not falling as it is in the rest of Europe.

"Premature parenthood blights the lives of those who have responsibilities thrust on them too early."

The report calls on the government, which has pledged to halve rates of teenage pregnancy by 2010, to "radically change" its policy.

Margaret Creear, of Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families, told the Observer newspaper: "These types of report are not helpful.

Lynette Burrows blamed government for failing to support parents

"The reasons for underage pregnancies are much more complex and often to do with social deprivation, not whether your parents are married or not."

Lynette Burrows, author of 'The fight for the Family', said it was no surprise one parent found it more difficult than two.

"Most parents do a pretty good job, but they get no help from government, and we have got a culture that undermines them at every turn."

Jan Barlow, chief executive of Brook, which provides confidential sex and contraception advice to young people, said: "Attributing sexual activity in under 16s to divorced, separated or single parents is simplistic and stigmatising and obscures what is an extremely complex issue.

"To suggest that a return to Victorian family values is the way to reduce teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections is naïve and unhelpful."