Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion
Featured Finding
Home Alone? Lack of Adult Supervision and Teen Sexual Activity
July 24, 2006
| Key
Data: There was a strong relationship between unsupervised
time and youths’ sexual activity. The greater the amount of unsupervised
time, the greater the percentage of youths engaging in intercourse
ever and within the previous three months...(more) Ever wonder what teens are up to when they are left home alone after school? In a recent study published in the December 2002 issue of Pediatrics, researchers investigated the health behaviors and after-school activities of late adolescents by surveying a sample of students from urban-district high schools in the South.* Their data imply youths engage in risky behaviors more when they have the opportunity, which is often created by a lack of adult supervision after school. Of the 2,034 students surveyed, 36.4 percent reported five or fewer hours per week of unsupervised after-school time; 31 percent reported 6 to 29 hours; and 32.6 percent reported 30 or more unsupervised hours. Among the first group (=5 hours/week), 68.1 percent reported having had sex in the past three months; among the second group (6 to 29 hours/week), 74.9 percent; and among the third group (=30 hours/week), 80.0 percent. Of the sexually active teens, 79.3 percent reported having had sex in their or their partner’s home. Similar trends were reported for tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use. While the authors recognized certain limitations of the study-the difficulty of measuring unsupervised time and the possibility of a self-selected sample-the findings suggest a strong relationship between unsupervised after-school hours and the likelihood of teens engaging in sex and other risky behaviors. *The sample survey contained slightly more eleventh and twelfth graders (52.2 percent) than underclass students and slightly more boys (52.4 percent) than girls. Of the teens surveyed, 97.6 percent were black; 55.4 percent lived with a single parent, 27.2 percent with two parents, and 17 percent in other arrangements; 78.5 percent were eligible for a free or reduced-cost lunch. |
Other
findings on adult supervision:
 Children who experience more parental monitoring are less likely to be members of youth gangs...(more) Parenting matters in the development of alcohol use among teens...(more) Family Research Experts:
Pat Fagan William H. G. FitzGerald Research Fellow in Family and Cultural Issues Christine Kim Policy Analyst, Domestic Policy Studies Jennifer Marshall Director, Domestic Policy Studies For Interviews call Media Relations at (202) 675-1761 |
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Events:Religious Practice and Civic Life: What the Research Says October 4, 2007 |