FACTORS INFLUENCING ADOLESCENT INVOLVEMENT IN SEXUAL ACTIVITIES

COURSE CODE:            PSY 721
COURSE TITLE:           HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Abstract
The study is out to investigate perceived factors influencing adolescent involvement in sexual activities. The study is carried out using a qualitative research technique, a focus group discussion precisely. Seven adolescents participated in the study. It investigated the what adolescents understand about sex, how they have sex, the various types of sexual activity they are involved in. The adolescents are involved in sexual activity majorly from the age of 13years.adolescents engage in several types of sexual activities both coital and non-coital sex. Many adolescents start having sex before they think of risks involved. The most risk involved is pregnancy, gonorrhoea followed by syphilis and then HIV-AIDS. Many of the adolescents are motivated to have sex because of what they watch on TV, red in news papers, listen to in music and what their mates are doing. Parents are advised to talk about sex to their wards without making much of a big deal to it. Parents, teachers, and adults around should be careful about what they display to the viewing of the adolescents.


INTRODUCTION
Knowing why adolescents are involved in sex is critical to understanding their sexual behavior. For example, having sex for enhancement (pleasure) motives has been linked to sexual behaviors that increase the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or pregnancy or both. Having sex for intimacy reasons, however, also has been associated with more frequent sex (Dawson, LH; Shih, MC; de moor, C; Shrier, L, 2008).
 Many people imagine an adolescent as being a gangly, awkward, and troublesome individual. Researchers shared this view until quite recently. This period of life (generally considered to run from age ten to age twenty-five) was seen as a time of "storm and stress." But what is adolescent development really like? Clearly it is a time of great change on many levels. Probably most dramatic are the biological changes associated with puberty. These changes include dramatic shifts in the shape of the body, increases in hormones, and changes in brain architecture. These biological shifts are directly linked to changes in sexual interest, cognitive capacities, and physical capacities. There are also major social changes associated with the school-linked transitions and with changes in the roles adolescents are expected to play by all those around them.
In humans, mature sexual desire usually begins to appear with the onset of puberty. Sexual expressions can take the form of masturbation or sex with a partner. Sexual interests among adolescents, adults, can vary greatly. Sexual activity in general is associated with a number of risks, including sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV/AIDS) and unwanted pregnancy. This is considered particularly true for young adolescents, as adolescents' brains are not neurally mature (several brain regions in the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex and in the hypothalamus important for self control, delayed gratification, and risk analysis and appreciation are not fully mature until ages 25-30). Partially because of this, most adolescents are deemed less emotionally mature and are not financially self-sufficient.
 Since the onset of sexuality is at puberty which is apparent at the adolescent stage then it is obvious they will feel sexual urges. In Nigeria sex is believed to be for married people that are adults. Adolescents know this too but they have their sexuality triggered by some factors available in the society, it could be accidental or intentional. For example TV watching, an adolescent could stomp on a movie and not know a sex scene is in it, at the same time an adolescent will buy and watch a porno film. 
Adolescent sexuality refers to sexual feelings, behaviour and development in adolescents and is a stage of human sexuality. Sexuality and sexual desire usually begins to intensify along with the onset of puberty. The expression of sexual desire among adolescents (or anyone, for that matter), might be influenced by family values and the culture and religion they have grown up in (or as a backlash to such), social engineering, social control, taboos, and other kinds of social mores.
In contemporary society, adolescents also face some risks as their sexuality begins to transform. Whilst some of these such as emotional distress (fear of abuse or exploitation) and sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV/AIDS) are not necessarily inherent to adolescence, others such as pregnancy (through non-use or failure of contraceptives) are seen as social problems in most western societies. In terms of sexual identity, while all sexual orientations found in adults are also represented among adolescents, statistically the suicide rate amongst LGBT adolescents is up to four times higher than that of their heterosexual peers.
According to anthropologist Margaret Mead and psychologist Albert Bandura the turmoil found in adolescence in Western society has a cultural rather than a physical cause; they reported that societies where young women engaged in free sexual activity had no such adolescent turmoil.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of carrying out this study is;
To know the prevalence of sexual involvement of Nigerian adolescents.
To know the factors that influences adolescents in involving in sexual activities.
To know often adolescents are involvement in sexual activities.
To know how informed adolescents are as regards the risk involved in unsafe sex.
To know the perspective(s) to address the situation.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objective of this study is to address some of the limitations of previous research by identifying the Nigerian adolescent’s reason for involvement in sexual activity and prevalence since most of adolescent sexuality researches are done abroad which may not be totally true of Nigerian adolescents.
To know the level of involvement of Nigerian adolescents in sexual activities.
To bring to the notice of adolescents and parents on what could possibly trigger the sexuality of the adolescents and how to help them cope.
To make qualitative recommendation and intervention program to reduce teenage sexuality and risks involved in it.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The research is to find answers to the question
Why do adolescents engage in sexual activity?
What is the population of adolescents that are engaged in sexual activity?
Which type of sex do adolescents engage more, the coital or the non- coital?
Is it the male adolescents that are more engaged in sexual activity or the female adolescents?
What are the events, phenomenon that trigger adolescents into engaging in sexual activity?   
At what age do adolescents start to engage in sexual activities?

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The research had the following constraint;
The researcher used very few participants
The research suffered short time frame
The researcher focused on Ibadan alone when adolescents can be found in other parts of Nigeria for more comprehensive and comparable data.

REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
Many studies have been carried out on reasons why adolescents involve themselves in sex.  Previous studies' participants ranged from high school students (Stone & Ingham, 2002), to adolescents presenting to a medical clinic for STI treatment (Dawson et al., 2008), to college undergraduates who currently were dating someone (Dawson et al., 2008). Reasons for having sex were assessed by asking how important each listed reason was in the respondents' sexual relations (Dawson et al., 2008), how often they personally had sex for each of a list of reasons (Dawson et al., 2008).
The studies have indicated that at least four factors may contribute to differences in why adolescents have sex. They are age, gender, relationship status in quest for intimacy and motivational level of risk behavior that individuals are motivated to engage in the behavior to enhance positive affect or reduce negative affect (Dawson et al., 2008). These gender differences, however, have not been consistently observed (Dawson et al., 2008).  Age has been associated with different reasons for having sex. Consistent with the need to establish intimate relationships as part of healthy adolescent development (Dawson et al., 2008)  Similarly, a longitudinal study of female adolescent clinic patients found that girls who were 17 or older at first coitus were more likely than younger girls to report being in love and feeling romantic as reasons for sex (Dawson et al., 2008).
In another research titled ‘watching sex on television predicts adolescent initiation of sexual behavior’ (Collins, Elliot, Berry, Kanouse, Kunkel, Hunter & Miu, 2004). A national longitudinal survey of 1792 adolescents was carried out within 12-17 years of age. Participants reported their TV viewing habits and sexual experience and responded to measures of more than a dozen factors known to be associated with adolescent sexual initiation. Analysis indicated that adolescents who viewed more sexual content at baseline were more likely to initiate intercourse and progress to more advanced non-coital sexual activities during the subsequent year, controlling for respondent characteristics that might otherwise explain these relationships. Watching sex on TV predicts and may hasten adolescent sexual initiation. Collins et el came up with the recommendation that reducing the amount of sexual content in entertainment programming, reducing adolescent exposure to this content, or increasing references to and depictions of possible negative consequences of sexual activity could appreciably delay the initiation of coital and non-coital activities. Alternatively, parents may be able to reduce the effects of sexual content by watching TV with their adolescents and discussing their own beliefs about sex.
Adolescent sexual behavior, pregnancy and parenthood; a review of research and interventions by Kristin A. Moore, Brent C. Miller, Barbara W. Sugland, Donna Ruane Morrison, Dana A.  Glei, Connie Blumenthal (2010). Most young people in the United States begin having sexual intercourse during their teenage years. Current data suggest that slightly more than half of females and nearly two-thirds of males have had intercourse by their 18th birthday. In the last several decades there have been substantial increases in the proportion of adolescents who report sexual activity at each year of age. Increases have been greatest among females, especially among young females. Thus, more than twice as many females ages 14, 15, and 16 are sexually active now, compared with young women of the same ages just 15 years ago. Moreover, on average, there are seven years for women and ten years for men between first intercourse and first marriage. This creates a substantial interval of risk for non-marital pregnancy.
Initial sexual intercourse experiences are usually important (and sometimes defining) events in the lives of young people. Early timing of sexual initiation is important for two reasons. First, the younger the age of first sexual intercourse, the more likely that the experience was coercive, and forced sexual intercourse is related to long lasting negative effects. Secondly, the younger the age of first sexual intercourse, the greater the risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. This is because those who begin having sex at young ages are generally exposed to risk for a longer time, are less likely to use contraception, generally have more sexual partners, and tend to engage in higher risk sexual behaviors such as alcohol or drug use prior to sexual intercourse and having multiple concurrent sexual partners. It must be recognized as well that early intercourse is frequently not voluntary. Among females, as noted above, the majority of initial sexual experiences that occur at age 14 or younger are non-voluntary.
Many variables are related to the timing of first sexual intercourse. On average, males begin having sex at younger ages than females, and blacks begin at younger ages than whites or Hispanics. There are also strong effects of developmental characteristics, such as early puberty and high levels of androgen hormones (i.e., testosterone), which are associated with increased adolescent sexual behavior. Dating, and especially early steady dating, provides a context for many adolescent sexual experiences. Unconventional psychosocial attitudes and behaviors--as reflected by early use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, school problems, delinquency, and physical aggression--are associated with earlier onset of adolescent sexual intercourse. Parents' marital disruption and living with a single parent have been found to be associated with earlier onset of adolescent sexual behavior. This finding probably reflects a variety of factors, including lower family incomes, disadvantaged neighborhoods, lesser supervision, parental modeling, and more permissive attitudes in single parent families. Similarly, having sexually active siblings and friends is strongly related to a younger age at the onset of sexual activity. On the other hand, having better educated parents, supportive family relationships, parental supervision, sexually abstinent friends, good school grades and attending church frequently are all related to later onset of sexual intercourse.
In addition to families and schools, neighborhoods provide an environment within which adolescents make decisions related to sexual activity. The effects of the neighborhood environment, such as the community economic base and labor market conditions for women, account for a substantial portion of the racial differences among blacks and whites in the timing of first sexual intercourse. Thus, in one study, the overall risk of non-marital first intercourse was reported to be 50 percent higher for black teens than white teens, even controlling for individual and family level factors such as mothers' education and marital status and respondents' education and religious affiliation. The addition of contextual variables such as median family income, female unemployment, and female full-time employment reduced the racial difference in risk of first non-marital intercourse to 36 percent. Net of individual and family level factors, the only contextual variable found to be significant was female full-time employment in the community, which was related to a greater risk of first sex.
The topic of sexuality and adolescents often makes parents and teenagers uncomfortable. It can be difficult for some parents to even broach the subject of sexuality, and even more difficult should the parent suspect their child is sexually promiscuous. Few parents want to confront the issues of sexual promiscuity or inappropriate sexual behavior in their children, yet avoiding such behavioral problems can be as risky as the behaviors themselves. Not only does sexual promiscuity cause serious health risks to your child, it can damage self-esteem and the emotional health of a developing adolescent.
Teenagers often partake in risk-taking behaviors. This seems to be a common theme among adolescents, but it can become a serious issue in troubled adolescents. Sex may become an
outlet. In this way, sex becomes a drug, a way to escape feelings and emotional confusion. However, as with any drug, there is a backlash. Any teenager who is acting out sexually will begin to feel a diminished sense of value and self-esteem.
In a related research titled ‘Sexual promiscuity among Adolescents’ by Aspen education group (2010) stated that some cases, sex can be used as a weapon or defense. An adolescent might see promiscuous sex as a way of showing parents that he or she is "free," an adult, someone who can "do whatever" they want to do. Allowing a young person to continue to see sex in such an emotional immature and self-destructive manner can lead to long-term problems with intimate relationships, as well as the child's physical health.
HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and cervical cancer have all been linked to promiscuous sexual behavior. The threats of sexual promiscuity to an adolescent's health are enough to warrant an intervention should you suspect your child is acting out in this way.

"During the past three decades, the level of sexual activity in adolescents in the United States has increased." (Source, American Academy of Pediatrics)
Among teens each year there are about 3 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and approximately 1 million pregnancies. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is the sixth leading cause of death among persons aged 15-24 years in the United States.
(Source, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA).

THEORIES OF ADOLESENCE AND ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY
So many theories in developmental psychology explain the developmental stage of an adolescent. According to Erik Erikson (1968) in his socio-psychological development he stated that “adolescence is the stage from 10- 20 years of age”. It is the stage when the individual is in search of identity, if the search is not achieved then there is identity confusion. The individual is faced with the finding out who they are, what they are about and where they are going in life adolescents are confronted with many new roles and adult statuses such as vocational and romantic. It is a stage of stress and storm.  This is the stage individuals find it difficult to trust people especially adults and most especially their parents, they never seem to do anything right in the sight of their parents which piss them off. The adolescents acknowledged that they can be very stubborn because they feel they are right about some things they do and know what they are doing. There is physiological, cognitive and biological growth. It is the stage of puberty when so many sexual characteristics begin to grow. For the girls there is onset of menstruation, breast enlargement, hips and body curves growth. As for the boys there is strength in the voice, the penis enlarges, broader chests amongst others. Most of the behaviors adolescents portray are as a result of their thought processes. 
Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development places adolescents in the fourth stage which is the formal operational stage. At this stage according to Piaget it is a stage of abstract, idealistic and logical reasoning. It is the stage of hypothetical reasoning which is the adolescent’s ability to develop hypotheses, or best hunches, about ways to solve problems. They then systematically deduce, or conclude which is the best path to follow to solve the problem. Adolescents at this stage are of the believe that they are smart and are capable of take decisions on their own which includes decision about keeping relationship with the opposite sex, their sexuality and relations with the larger society. Adolescent sexuality is a concern to researchers that is why Crooks and Bauer took time to explain the phenomenon.
The adolescent sexuality theory according to Crooks, Bauer (1999) states that, “cognitive world plays an important role in our sexuality”. Thoughts and images are extensively involved in adolescents and adult sexual lives. Adolescents might be attracted to someone but understands that it is important to inhibit sexual urge until adulthood, what they think of it, what they have seen of sex and what they have heard of sex will either make them inhibit or go for sex. Cognitive interpretation of sex also involves whom they want to have sex with or whom they are having sex with.  Tracing back to the psychosexual stages of Sigmund Freud, he stated that ‘every individual from childhood have sexual feelings’. The society expects such sexuality be expressed at the adulthood stage.
METHODOLOGY
The study was carried out using a qualitative study technique in investigating the phenomenon, precisely a focus group discussion. The participants were selected using accidental sampling technique. This is so because students are in session preparing for the third term examination compared to the time frame the researcher has.
Participants
The focus group discussion comprised of a total of seven adolescents. There were four males and three females. They ranged from 13- 18 years of age with a mean age of 16 years.  

Setting and procedure
The research was carried out in the sitting room of an apartment. The sitting room was used so as to make the adolescents more comfortable and relaxed. The discussion started with the researcher introducing herself, telling the essence of the research, what is needed from the adolescents, their consent for participation and consent to record their voice. The researcher also assured them of confidentiality of information and privacy of persons. The participants were asked to introduce themselves not necessarily mentioning their real names but the type of school- whether private or public school- and real age was asked. Each participant was asked the same question. Each participant was given a label of P1 to P7.    

THEMES DERIVED FROM THE FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION
Most of the points raised here were the opinions of the focus group discussion participants that were all adolescents.

An adolescent
Puberty is a period of several years in which rapid physical growth and psychological changes occur, culminating in sexual maturity. The average onset of puberty is at 10 or 11 for girls and age 12 or 13 for boys. Every person's individual timetable for puberty is influenced primarily by heredity, although environmental factors, such as diet and exercise, also exert some influence. These factors can also contribute to precocious puberty and delayed puberty.
Puberty begins with a surge in hormone production, which in turn causes a number of physical changes. It is also the stage of life in which a child develops secondary sex characteristics (for example, a deeper voice and larger Adam's apple in boys, and development of breasts and more curved and prominent hips in girls) as his or her hormonal balance shifts strongly towards an adult state. This is triggered by the pituitary gland, which secretes a surge of hormonal agents into the blood stream, initiating a chain reaction. The male and female gonads are subsequently activated, which puts them into a state of rapid growth and development; the triggered gonads now commence the mass production of the necessary chemicals. The testes primarily release testosterone, and the ovaries predominantly dispense estrogen. The production of these hormones increases gradually until sexual maturation is met. Some boys may develop gynecomastia due to an imbalance of sex hormones, tissue responsiveness or obesity.

 An adolescent is a person that developing some hair and for the boys let me say there is deep voice and removal of sperm’ says one of the participants. According to another participant she said adolescence stage is ‘the stage between childhood and adulthood’. Others said ‘a person within the age of 13 to 19’, ‘a matured stage of a girl or boy’, ‘there is breast development for the girls’, ‘if u are an adolescent he will see a sign of maturity’.

All definition given by the participants seem to conform with the definitions given by developmental psychologists especially the stage between childhood and adulthood, the time with which there is physical growth, cognitive development and biological development.
So many authors categorise the adolescent stage to be filled with ‘stress and storm’ Erik Erikson (1968) claims in his psychosocial stages of human development that adolescent stage is the stage with which the adolescent child is in search of an identity. Confusion could set in if such a search is not productive. The participants are of the view that being an adolescent is not easy, ‘it is not easy being an adolescent’. As said by another participant ‘it is a stage you are more stubborn and angry’, the adolescent are in quest to explore thereby they get scolded, abused, beating and shouted out which in turn gets them more darery, angry and revoltful.
Adolescents want to know things, learn new things which their parents or the society do not condone at their age or the parents are of the opinion that the adolescent child is not ripe for such. ‘At this stage we are more curious because of what we see around’. Adolescents believe they are old and matured enough to take care of themselves, handle situations and make their own decisions, ‘adolescent stage is the stage of maturity’.

Adolescent sexuality
All the participants agree to the fact that adolescents engage in sexual activity, according to one of them he said, ‘yes for some people’. It is not a new phenomenon that adolescents are engaged varying forms of sexual activity but what is surprising about it is the rate of involvement and the population among adolescents involved which is part of the interest of the researcher. Adolescent stage is the stage in which sexual properties develop in an individual; the sexual hormones are functional at this stage. Some adolescents are early maturers while others are late maturers. Early maturers especially females develop sexual properties early, they become aware and are cognizant of the change in their body. From the research carried out by Collins, Elliot, Berry, Kanouse, Kunkel, Hunter & Miu, 2004, it is revealed that girls keep the knowledge of sex to themselves and talk about it to their friends while boys explore sex pointing towards males as being more involved in sex than female adolescent.

Age of onset
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 36.9 percent of 14-year-olds have had sex - more than one out of three. Among 12th graders, 66.4 percent have had sex.
In a 2008 study conducted by YouGov for Channel 4, 20% of 14−17-year-olds surveyed revealed that they had their first sexual experience at 13 or under in the United Kingdom.[46] A 2002 American study found that those aged 15–44 reported that the average age of first sexual intercourse was 17.0 for males and 17.3 for females.

The age of onsent to sexual activity varies widely between international jurisdictions, ranging from 12 to 21 years. Quoting the participants from P1 to P7 each of them gave an age bracket of when they first had the knowledge of sex and presumed age they feel adolescents start having sexual relations. Though some of them think it is a class thing others thing think its am age thing. It could be noted that the observations could be a projection of themselves or from other source like their friends. The age of onset of knowledge about sex as given by the participants are 13years, 11years, 10years, 10years, 15years, 11years, 4years or 5years. Those that became aware at age 4 years and 5years were males while those of 15years and 13years were females.
According to the adolescents some start having sex at the age of 13years and /or at senior secondary class. Mostly adolescent in senior secondary class 2. From the males discussion it can be inferred that they most times start earlier than SS2.
Sexual activities
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the year 2007, fewer than half of all US high school students have had sexual intercourse. In that year, 47.8% of US high school students reported that they had ever had sexual intercourse. This number has shown a downward trend since 1991, when the figure was 54.1%. According to a survey commissioned by NBC News and People magazine, the vast majority of 13- to 16-year-olds, 87%, report that they have not had sexual intercourse, and 73% report having not been sexually intimate at all. Three quarters of them say they have not because they feel they are too young, and just as many say they have made a conscious decision not to.
when male and female meet together to have some fun together’, ‘having a contact with a male and female’, ‘intercourse between two people boy and girl or male and female’, ‘sex happens between a man and a woman that are married and not anyhow u shouldn’t have sex when u are not ready’. These are some of the definitions the participants gave as to what sex is. When asked about the various types of sex they know that adolescents engage in it became very clear that these youngsters are deep into knowledge and involvement in sexual activities.
Sexual activities like masturbation, kissing, romance, coital sex (sex through the vagina), oral sex, anal sex, lesbianism, and homosexual were mentioned. Masturbation is said to be the most popular amongst the adolescents as claimed by the participants. It is common among the females because of fear of getting pregnant and the shame it brings if their parents and friends are aware they have start having sex. They claim it is safe and less satisfying.

Coital sex is quite rampant, the males prefer this. The participants claim that anal sex is not really common because of reasons that can’t be explained. Oral sex is in vogue among the adolescents, it is fairly new and all sexually active adolescents want to practise it. ‘Sex is sweet is what my friends tell me...’ as said by one of the participants. ‘If someone’s body is moved can lead to sex’ as said by P2 a female.

Event and factors that encourage sex
Teen sexuality is influenced by the mass media today more than any other time in history. Internet, television, music video and sexually explicit lyrics all contribute to adolescents’ attitudes and behavior concerning sexual activity. Only 9% of the sex scenes on 1,300 of cable network programming discusses and deals with the negative consequences of sexual behavior. The Internet and the anonymity therein allows adolescents real concerns relating to false information on health issues, sexuality, and sexual violence in the world of intimate sexual relationships.

In commerce this generation is seen as an important target. Mobile phones, electronic devices such as the iPod, contemporary popular music, movies, television programs, websites, sports, video games and clothes are heavily marketed and often popular amongst adolescents.
In the past (and still in some cultures) there were ceremonies that celebrated adulthood, typically occurring during adolescence. Seijin shiki (literally "adult ceremony") is a Japanese example of this. Upanayanam is a coming of age ceremony for males in the Hindu world. In Judaism, 13-year-old boys and 12-year-old girls become Bar or Bat Mitzvah, respectively, and often have a celebration to mark this coming of age. Among some denominations of Christianity, the rite or sacrament of Confirmation is received by adolescents and may be considered the time at which adolescents become members of the church in their own right (there is also a Confirmation ceremony in some Reform Jewish temples, although the bar or bat mitzvah ceremony appears to have precedence). In United States, girls will often have a "sweet sixteen" party to celebrate turning the aforementioned age, a tradition similar to the quinceañera in Latin culture. In modern western society, events such as getting your first driver's license, high school and later on college graduation and first career related job are thought of as being more significant markers in transition to adulthood.

Before sexual intercourse could occur something or an event most have staged it. Some claim that sex occur mostly between a boy and a girl when a girl keeps collecting gifts from the boy and/ or the female goes to visit the male in his house when no one is around as said by one of the participants and agreed upon by others, ‘when a girl goes to a boy’s house, when females are collecting gift from men and the male wants to collect the gift back and the girl goes to the boys house and he have sex with her’. Another link to sex is the quest to satisfy one’s boyfriend or girlfriend as the case may be, ‘like when u are in a relationship and u want to satisfy your boyfriend and you don’t want him to have sex with other girls and other girls are doing it’.

Reasons why adolescents engage in sex as claimed by the participants are ‘some people do it because they want to go against their parents’, ‘some do it just as a fun’, ‘to practise what they see their parents do because they see their parents do it’, ‘due to peer pressure’.
Factors that were listed to be influencing adolescent sexuality are what may have little or no control for save only from the home font.

Influence can be attributed to what is seen on television. There are so many sex related programs and movies. Posters on the street showcase almost naked women which is free to the viewing to not only the adolescents but also children and adults. Kissing, romance, smooching are becoming normal on television even actual sex. ‘Some do because they watch bad things in television blue films they want to perform what they see’.
Adolescent access to phones is making the spread of sex easy. Many adolescents take phones to school and showcase it in class to their peers and friends in the neighbourhood.
Peer influence is also a strong force in influencing adolescent sexuality. Many of the adolescents got to know of sex first from their friends. They express what they watched, saw, read or experienced about sex to their friends.
The print media is also implicated here. Sex knowledge is gotten from magazines (hint, heart, play boy) novels like the mills and boon, silhouette amongst others even newspapers. This print display nude scene, illustrate how a sex activity was carried out to the extent of how each individual climax.
I don’t know how popular this is but it was said that some adolescents engage in sex to punish their parents or just to go against their instructions. ‘Some go out of their way to punish their parents’.
Another reason is an adolescent with an hormonal problem still with that it is controllable by reducing the potency of the hormone medically or simply get the adolescent married. ‘Some have hormonal problems’.

Sex risks
Effective contraceptive use generally requires planning and preparation prior to having sexual intercourse. This is often a problem for adolescents because young people usually report that their first sexual intercourse "just happened" and that they were not planning to have sex at the time. Consequently, condoms, which require the least amount of advance planning, are used more than any other method of contraception at first sexual intercourse, but about 35 percent of first intercourse experiences take place without the use of any contraception at all.
Avoiding pregnancy after the first (often unplanned) sexual intercourse experience requires consistent use of an effective contraceptive method. This can be additionally problematic for adolescents because young adolescents tend to be less deliberative and rational about sexual decisions than older persons, and they also tend to have sexual intercourse more sporadically. Consequently, approximately one-fifth of adolescents report that they did not use any effective contraceptive at their last intercourse experience. Seven in ten pregnancies to adolescent teens occur to teens who were not using any method of contraception when they became pregnant.
A major challenge to preventing pregnancies is the fact that so many adolescents delay seeking contraceptive services until some months after they have become sexually active. The delay between first intercourse and obtaining contraceptive services has been found to average almost one year in some studies. Procrastination, not thinking that they could get pregnant or being ambivalent about sex, contraception and pregnancy and worrying about confidentiality are the reasons sexually active adolescents most often give for not seeking contraceptive services sooner. The year after the initiation of sexual intercourse is a time of high risk for unintended pregnancy, and in one study about one-third of adolescents made their first visit to a clinic because they suspected that they already were pregnant. Thus, helping adolescents to plan for effective contraception (preferably before, but at least soon after initiating sex) could be an important strategy for reducing unintended pregnancy.
Adolescents gather information about sexuality from friends and through the print and electronic media. Often this information is wrong and unscientific. They have a great curiocity and concern about the sexuality of their own and of the opposite sex. Adolescents often have neither access to accurate information on the issues related to sexuality and sexual health, nor solutions for their problems, due to socio-cultural barriers.
There is a rising rate of morbidity associated with sexual ignorance, poor decision making and inadequate sexuality education.
The studies on the effects of sex education in schools show that sex and AIDS education often encourages young people to delay sexual activity and to practice safer sex, once they are active. This is contrary to the popular belief that teaching young people about sexuality and contraception encourages sexual experimentation.
In a study of AIDS prevention programme done by UNICEF of selected Municipal Schools in Bombay (Mumbai), it was found that students’ queries ranged from sexual intercourse to marriage and sexual harassment. Many women’s organizations feel that the girls should not be ignorant about basic facts of life and become victims of sexual abuse, unwanted pregnancy and deception.
A survey shows that 50% of the daily clientele of an STD clinic comes from 15 to 25 age group. Children are not less informed but they are malinformed. Ignorance and misinformation provide the ideal environment for all sorts of risky behaviour. It is such behaviour that spreads HIV infection. Aims of Sex Education to adolescents
It is quite astonishing to know that adolescents in Nigeria are not intelligent as to their sexual life. Many of them have not learnt through someone’s story so much effort is put by them so to not the same mistake their friends made. They Also take caution after months of sexual activeness. ‘Child birth control’, ‘condoms are used but still we have many of girls getting pregnant’. ‘I want to say the boys are lucky they don’t get pregnant’. The risks listed to be involved in adolescent sex are;
There is high risk of getting pregnant which will in turn affect schooling and gives the girl a bad face amongst her friends and the community.
HIV-AIDS is another disease that is finding its way into the adolescent world. ‘I have hear of a boy that had AIDS, I hear he is 17 years’.
Gonorrhoea is said to be quite common amongst adolescent. The good thing is that doctors will not treat a victim except the other person comes too.

RECOMMENDATION
There are so many sex-related topics adolescents want to talk about but they don’t know if they can trust their parents not to scold them or have their adult friends keep it a secret, parents should not make a big deal about sex. They should be able to talk about it from an early age of seven. One of the focus group discussant said her mother talked to her about it when she was ten and the point she felt ‘why are you telling me, am not having sex’.
More attention should be given to boys at teenage age because they are more vulnerable to indiscriminate sex. Middle adolescent stage should be monitored carefully for both male and female adolescents.
Parents should not criticize their children when watching films that could co-incidentally have sex scenes rather they watch it with the adolescent and explain further what is not clear through it they should be educated on when to have sex.
How adolescents access the internet should be monitored. Adolescents sometimes innocently visits site that are unknowing to them to be sex incisive site.
There are so many cues out there encouraging our adolescents to want and eventually have sex. These cues are musical lyrics, romance novel, sex magazines amongst others. Knowledge of these cues are majorly influenced by peers. They introduce themselves to this factors causing adolescent involvement in sexual activity. Parents cannot follow their adolescents to school but they can keep a very close and intimate relationship with their adolescents so that whenever such things are seen or told about by their friends they find it easy to come home and tell. By this, influence risk will be minimized and proper education and caution will be given to the teenager.
Parenting skills and style of training adolescent should be learnt because how they were handled will have to change in order to get the best out of them.
More sex education and unprotected sex risks should be discussed with the adolescents by psychologists, doctors and the school teacher. The doctors are important so as to explain vividly the physiological implication of the diseases.
CONCLUSION
Information: To provide accurate information about human sexuality, including growth and development, human reproduction, anatomy and physiology of genital organs, pregnancy, child birth, parenthood, contraception, abortion, sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STD).

Attitude, values and insight: Opportunity to question, explore and assess their sexual attitudes in order to develop their own values, increase self-esteem, develop insights concerning relationships with members of both genders, and understand their obligation and responsibilities to others.

Relationships and interpersonal skills: Help them develop skills like communication, decision making, assertiveness, peer refusal skills and ability to create satisfactory relationships. Develop capacity for caring, supportive, non-coercive and mutually pleasurable intimate relationships.

Responsibility: To help young people exercise responsibility regarding sexual relationships, including abstinence; resist pressure to prematurely involve in sexual intercourse and encourage the use of contraception and other health measures.

It may not be surprising to know that Nigerian adolescents are this exposed to so much of sexuality, but necessary education and clear analysis of what sex is, who, how and when it should be performed. The Yoruba belief is that sex is for only the married and that staying a virgin till the wedding night is respectable, valuable and modellabe to other members of the society. 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How does it feel being an adolescent?
At what age do people start having sex?
Do adolescents engage in sexual activity?
With whom do they engage in sex?
Like how much percentage of adolescent engage in sex?
How many type of sexual activity do you know?
Coital sex
Non- coital sex like anal sex, oral sex
Homosexuality and lesbianism
How do you get informed about sex?
Are you aware of the risks involved in unprotected sex?
What are the measures adolescents take to control for the risks and diseases involved? 

REFERENCES  
Adolescent growth and development (2009)IAuthors as Published Novella Ruffin, Extension Specialist, Virginia State University
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, and Edward Reiter. "The Role of Pubertal Processes." In Shirley Feldman and Glen Elliott eds., At the Threshold: The Developing Adolescent. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990.
Brown, Brad. "Peer Groups and Peer Cultures." In Shirley Feldman and Glen Elliott eds., At the Threshold: The Developing Adolescent. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990.
Buchanan, Christy, Jacquelynne Eccles, and Jill Becker. "Are Adolescents the Victims of Raging Hormones? Evidence for Activational Effects of Hormones on Moods and Behaviors at Adolescence." Psychological Bulletin 111 (1992):62-107.
Centers for Disease Control (2005). Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Child developmental reference (2011)Adolescence - grand theories of adolescent development, biological changes associated with puberty - social changes associated with adolescence in western industrialized countries. Vol 1


Choudhury, S.; Blakemore, S.-J.; Charman, T. (2006). "Social cognitive development during adolescence". Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 1: 165. doi:10.1093/scan/nsl024. 
Collins., Elliot, Berry, Kanouse, Kunkel, Hunter & Miu, (2004) Parent-Child Relationships in    the Transition to Adolescence: Continuity and Change in Interaction, Affect, and Cognition." In Raymond Montemayor, Gerald Adams, and Thomas Gullotta eds., From Childhood to Adolescence: A Transitional Period? Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1990.
Crooks, R., Bauer, K (1999) our sexuality (7ty edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Dawson, LH; Shih, MC; de moor, C; Shrier, L (2008) Reasons why adolescents and young adults have sex: association with psychological characteristics and sexual behavior. United States
Erik Erikson (1968). Identity : youth and crisis. New York: W.W. Norton
Ge, X., Conger, R., and Elder, G. 2001. Pubertal transition, stressful life events, and the emergence of gender differences in adolescent depressive symptoms. Developmental Psychology, 37(3), 404-417.
Jean Piaget (1952). ‘Origin of intelligence in children’. New York: oxford university press.
Santrock, J.W (2001) psychology; New York. Mc Graw Hill,
Strauch, B. 2003. The Primal Teen. New York: Doubleday
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VithalPrabhu,  (2010) . sex education toadolescents
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