Adolescence is a time to detach from parents and mature, but sometimes teens think they should mature faster than they need to. Adolescents think that “I look grown up, why can’t I act like it?”
According to the University of Delaware website (http://ag.udel.edu), adolescents don’t know how to handle their new sexual maturity. Their bodies are changing while their minds are following behind.
With adolescent bodies maturing, and minds close behind, it is apparent that they have not developed an emotional maturity.
According to the Mass General Hospital for Children website (www.massgeneralforchildren.org), there are four stages of cognitive development. There are many rational portions of the brain for the younger adolescent who has not developed operational thinking.
Since adolescents do not have the operational thinking, the choice to have sex comes up. According to the Adolescent Sexuality website (teensexuality.org), with all the hormones going around, outward expressions of sexuality make themselves apparent during puberty. Having sex seems more of the better decision.
The media is a major part of adolescent sexuality. According to the Crisis Connection website (www.crisisconnectioninc.org), three out of four adolescents say “TV shows and movies make it seem normal for teenagers to have sex.”
Along with making sex seem normal, four out of ten adolescents say they have gotten ideas for how to talk to their partners about sexual issues from media.
The Crisis Connection website continues to say young teens indicate that their main source of sex education is from TV. It is also ranked as the top source for sexuality and sexual health.
Television isn’t the only object causing adolescents to act mature and become sexually active. Pregnancy is also causing adolescents to be more mature.
According to The Heritage Foundation website (www.heritage.org), early sexual activity can have lasting physical, emotional, social, and economic impacts causing the lives of adolescents to mature, particularly in the lives of adolescent girls and young women.
Girls who become sexually active during early adolescence are three times as likely to become single mothers as those who remain abstinent throughout adolescence, states The Heritage Foundation website. Nearly 40 percent of girls who begin sexual activity at ages 13 or 14 will give birth outside of marriage, compared to nine percent of those who remain abstinent until their early twenties.
These girls need to become mature to provide for their children. Providing for children is a tough job to do. The Heritage Foundation website also states “mothers who become sexually active at the ages 13 or 14 lived in poverty, compared to 12 percent of those who waited until their early twenties.”
Girls also believe they need to be married, so the stress of marriage becomes a factor for maturing adolescents.
Sexual activity speeds the imbalance of the maturity process. Being sexually active can be a cause for adolescents maturing too fast. However, each of these websites say abstinence may be the best policy in keeping innocence.