Home » About » News » Did you Know? DID YOU KNOW?

• About 19 million new STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) infections occur every year in the United States with almost half occurring in 15-24 year old.
  
  
• 1 in 4 sexually active teens are newly infected with an STD each year.
  
  
• 1 in 4 teenage girls in America has an STD, while 2,000 girls get pregnant each year.
  
  
• Sexual behavior among adolescents can affect them not only physically, but emotionally, mentally and socially.
  
  
• During sexual activity the brain releases chemicals and hormones that bond sexual partners emotionally and can produce an addiction to the experience.
  
  
• The impact of sex on the brain of an adolescent can be long-lasting, affecting their future health and behavior in ways unimaginable.
  
  
• Young people who are sexually active are three times more likely to become depressed than their virgin friends. Girls are three times more likely to attempt suicide than their virgin friends, while guys are seven times more likely.

(Information sources: Hooked, by Dr. Joe S. McIlhaney, Jr. and Dr. Freda McKissic Bush and The Center of Disease Control www.cdc.gov)


SEX CONNECTION

Though the above facts sound unbelievable, latest brain research indicates that they are true. Two doctors recently released the book Hooked which brought us alarming information on the brain and how casual sex is affecting our teenagers’ emotional and mental health. Because of the increasing rise of STDs and the teen birth rate in America being higher than other industrialized nations, we as parents, educators and concerned adults must become informed and involved in order to help our teenagers. Here is some of what they found.

Did you know that sexual activity and the brain are connected? Although your brain is a three pound mass, it houses trillions of connections between billions of neurons that influence your memory, how you behave, how you feel and what you want? On the flip side, what you see, do and experience will mold your brain. When it comes to sex and sexual activity, three neurochemicals and neurohormones (fancy words for brain chemicals) released by the brain have a very serious impact on our teens: dopamine, oxytocin and vasopressin.


Dopamine is the “feel good” chemical, associated with the pleasure system of the brain, which is released whenever an exciting behavior is undertaken signaling a “reward.” Whether someone runs a marathon, eats their all-time favorite food, snorts cocaine or has sex, this "values neutral" dopamine is released sending that person into a "feel good" state. You don't have to look far to see the inherent problem in that, since any exciting or risky behavior whether healthy or unhealthy is "rewarded" and can lead to an addiction of that “rewarded” behavior.
Oxytocin is the hormone released in a woman during childbirth, breast-feeding and during sexual activity. It emotionally bonds a woman with her child and with her sexual partner. In a marriage, this is a priceless bond between a woman and her husband. However in a teenage hookup the oxytocin bond is dangerous because the young woman unknowingly has emotionally bonded with her sexual partner, which can bring about emotional pain (regret, hurt, depression and even suicidal thoughts) once the relationship ends. Oxytocin can create a long-term bond even if the sexual relationship was abusive. Sexual relationships with no commitment can still have long-term consequences.

Vasopressin affects the man as oxytocin does the woman. It bonds him with his sexual partner and is responsible for a man's connection with his children. In casual sex among a number of partners over time, a young man may risk his ability to develop a long-term emotional bond with someone and possibly even with his children, that would have come from a committed, monogamous relationship. Could this be why we have so few committed "babies' daddy's"?

Though physical consequences, such as unplanned pregnancy and STDs, are common among teenagers engaging in casual sex, it is clear that some of the most powerful effects of sex are emotional and mental.


The prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for making decisions based on rational, sound judgment, is not fully formed until a person is in their mid-20’s, which makes a teenager very susceptible to being influenced. It will be more difficult for a young person to make a wise decision if they do not have positive education, discipline, guidance and parental modeling during these years. It's now proven that teenagers truly don't know it all!

Abstinence, which is saving all sexual activity for marriage, is the safest and healthiest lifestyle choice for a teenager to prevent negative emotional, physical and social consequences of sexual activity outside of a marriage.

(Information sources: Hooked, by Dr. Joe S. McIlhaney, Jr. and Dr. Freda McKissic Bush and The Center of Disease Control www.cdc.gov)