Sure, make fun of the mission statements if you want, but what studies such as this do is pretty mainstream. Basically, looking for correlations between various aspects of human behavior, and in this study, it found what other studies have found; that teenagers engaging in early sexual activity are also likely to suffer from depression or behavioral issues such as alcohol or marijuana usage. Here are some more studies that I pulled off of PubMed:
Depression and high risk behaviors including sexual behavior in college students-
Major risk factors for adolescent suicide attempts-
More college data-
Overall risk factors for depression or HIV risk behaviors-
Etc.
The study quoted from FN is actually the best at addressing our specific question because the data was controlled temporally.
From the abstract:
“Overall, sex and drug behavior predicted an increased likelihood of depression, but depression did not predict behavior.”
Basically, depression alone won’t tell you the chances that somebody will be having sex early or using drugs, but people that do so are more likely than peers to be depressed at a one year follow up.
Absolutely. This is no doubt a serious issue for research on adolescent behavior.
But this isn’t quite what’s beign described by other posters:
The researchers crowd into a class of high-schoolers into a room, pull out a pad of paper, and say, “Ahem, so then, who’s had a group sex in the last week?”
It doesn’t surprise me that early-onset sexuality and dpression are correlated. It surprises me that they left out the BIGGER issue, which is that low socio-economic status and early-onset sexuality are also very highly correlated. Unless that paper draws its subjects from diverse classes and does some sophisticated linear regression, I’d be suspicious. I’ll have to hunt down that paper at the university’s library.
Hmmmm… the study authors say that they controlled for SES via highest parent education level as a proxy for SES.
“Model 1 used the 16 risk clusters at Wave I to predict Wave II depression (yes/no) controlling for depression at Wave I, age, biological sex, race/ethnicity, highest parental education, family structure, and perceived physical maturity.”
I wish that I could post the entire article because I have access to it, but that might cause Elsevier to go Mideaval on my ass.
Speaking as someone who was a teenager (technically, still is) much more recently than likely anyone involved in this report: So what?
Regardless of age, someone who makes stupid and/or regrettable decisions about sex is going to be more likely to be depressed. Also, they’ll be more likely to get STD’s, because more sex + more partners = more risk.
I, for one, freely admit to glorifying my romantic exploits a bit when talking to peers (not close friends). Sure, you’d done this and this and this with x people.
Teenagers have always had sex. I refuse to believe that up until this generation, no 15-year-old had ever recieved a blowjob. To quote a fabulous line from Buffy: “I’m 16. Looking at linoleum makes me want to have sex.” Until teens start dropping dead in the streets from overzealous sexuality, I’m not going to be concerned.