Why you should avoid sex in your teens

It ruins career prospects
Boys and girls who lose their virginity before the age of 16 start thinking of themselves as adults and prefer to go to work than spend three years at college, finds a new study.

The six-year study of more than 5,000 pupils aged 14 to 18, by academics at the University of Glasgow, found that even after allowing for pregnancy, class and social background, there were still more school dropouts among those who lost their virginity earlier.

Early divorce
Women more likely to divorce if they start having sex in their teens. A study, examining the link between teen sex and divorce rate, has found that women who started having sex in their teens are more likely to divorce.

According to a researcher, there are a couple of potential explanations for the link between teen sex and divorce.

"One possibility is a selection explanation, that the women who had sex as adolescents were predisposed to divorce. The attitudes that made them feel OK about having sex as teens may have also influenced the outcome of their marriage," he explained.

Avoid alcohol
Teenagers' drinking habits are making them indulge in sex beyond their desire, causing an epidemic of risky sex, doctors have warned. Many teens admit going "further than intended" once they are drunk. It also states that excessive drinking and sex was a "cocktail" for teenage pregnancies and infections, a major newspaper quoted the college as stating in a report.

No Sexting
A new study has shed light on how an increasing number of girls in their early teens are resorting to sexting and sending explicit photographs to their boyfriends.

Jon Brown, head of the NSPCC's sex abuse programme, has asserted that sexting is on the rise, and it's providing a whole new resource for perverts.

"We have unearthed a lot of evidence of girls aged 12 and 13 becoming pressured into sending explicit photographs to boyfriends," the Mirror quoted him as saying.

Pornography
An increasing number of youngsters are now turning to porn to learn about sex, a new study has revealed.

"A lot of what I know about sex is because of porn," a teenage boy told the researchers. "Growing up, watching porn - that's sort of where you get your grasp of what's normal and what's not," another kid said.

Teen pregnancy: An early killer
Pregnancy is the number one killer of teenage girls worldwide, a charity has revealed. In a new report, the children's charity warns that girls under 15 are five times more likely to die in pregnancy than women in their 20s.

"The issue of children having children - and dying because their bodies are too immature to deliver the baby - is a global scandal," a major newspaper quoted the charity's chief executive as saying.u00a0