Well, naively idealistic Catholics obsessed with the "theoretical" rules of sex should love this:
But, hey, at least they're starting to have a more "natural" attitude towards sex vis a vis procreation:
Attitudes among American teens about birth control, sexual activity and pregnancy have remained largely unchanged since 2002, according to a new federal report.At least they're not "compounding their sin" through artificial contraception (rolls eyes). Even though, as the article goes on to point out, among these teens, "it only works about 25 percent of the time, according to the study's authors."
Stalled progress is bad enough, but some subtle changes also have experts concerned.
Most notably, more teens than ever are using the "rhythm method" to prevent pregnancy, and a growing number of teen girls approve of underage childbirth.
But, hey, at least they're starting to have a more "natural" attitude towards sex vis a vis procreation:
Attitudes about pregnancy are also changing. Nearly 64 percent of teenage boys think it's acceptable for a teen to have a baby, compared with 50 percent in 2002. Among girls, more than 70 percent now approve, compared with 65 percent in 2002.This is all great news, I'm sure. It probably means fewer abortions, after all. That must be part of it. And hey, at least their sex is now technically mechanically "natural." It's not a perfect situation, to be sure, but how can any "good Catholic" take this as anything but an improvement?? (I'm being sarcastic, of course).
Only 12 percent of boys who weren't sexually active said they opted out of sex because they feared impregnating their partner.
Combined, the two worrisome trends might help explain a related issue: the uptick in teen pregnancies, which occurred around the same time as this survey.
After dropping steadily for more than a decade, the teen birth rate in the U.S. rose between 2005 and 2007. Compared with other developed countries, the U.S. posted the remarkably high rate in 2007 of 42 babies per 1,000 teen girls. In Canada, by contrast, only 13 babies are born per 1,000 teen girls.
"We've known the decline in childbearing stalled out. This report kind of fills in the why," Bill Albert, spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, told The Associated Press.
Laura Lindberg, senior research associate at the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute, speculates that the growing number of glamorous celebrities bearing children -- especially as single mothers -- is having an impact on the attitudes of America's youth."
1 comment:
As much as I am wont to criticize American culture, there is one thing in particular, releveant ot this post, that strikes me as oddly natural and even good about our child-bearing. At a time when Europe is contracepting it's way out of existence (though that's a bit of an exaggeration, I know) Americans stil like to have kids.
The example that is most striking is in our celebrities who, for all the glaring dysfunctions, typically celebrate fame and fortune with children. Maybe I am wrong and European celebrities do the same thing, but my impression is that they are just as sterile as their non-famous counterparts. I mean, Britney Spears had like three kids in a row (and went coocoo, but that's beside the point), and I saw an ad in the dentist's offcie that mentioned Vanessa Williams' four kids, and there's no need to mention Angelina Jolie's horde. While their attitude toward marriage is not great (but how many of us have a good attitude about marriage?), we still seem, as a people, to desire to bring more life into the world.
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