Changing Sexual Trends in Youth?

There was an interesting post on YPulse the other day regarding new trends in the younger generations.  Some things I found fascinating:

• It’s no longer a valid argument to say studies show cohabitation increase your risk for divorce.  Newest studies have found that women who cohabitate with ONLY their future spouse before marriage actually have a lower risk of divorce.  The risk increases, however, if they’ve cohabitated with someone else besides her eventual spouse.  Some new research even suggests that divorce rates IMPROVE with cohabitation across the board.
• Morals and values are playing less of a role in a couple’s decision to cohabitate than economics are.
• “Hooking up” with people young adults have meet online isn’t as prevalent of an issue as some would believe.
• It doesn’t mention “hooking up” with people you do know.  And something that I’ve been learning in the years that I’ve been doing youth ministry is that the younger students (not necessarily the older high schoolers who are generally in the study censuses) are the ones who are doing the experimenting.
• Using alternative birth-control to condoms is the “new engagement ring”?  While that seems a bit of a stretch, the trend of making a conscious, thought-out, and planned commitment to go sans-Trojan is something to note.  It seems to show a higher morality and value on one’s person and sexuality, and it’s probably going to be a more difficult trend to combat than random “hooking up” is on a moral front.

 

Teens and young adults seem to be making more intentional decisions about their choices in respect to sexuality, dating, etc.  Which, on the outside, seems like a good thing.  I think that someone telling me the chances of my marriage lasting would improve if I lived with my fiance and that our decision to have sex (outside of marriage) sans-condoms, as long as it was an active decision made out of trust and communication and we’ve been safe and taken necessary precautions, is actually a sign of love and commitment sounds appealing.  Not only do you still have the age-old argument (it FEELS good), you now have emotional, moral, economic, and statistical support as well?

Kind of makes it harder to convince someone that God’s way is best.  Especially for those who don’t already love Jesus.

I have not been able to follow The Secret Life of the American Teennearly as much as I would like since I’ve been working almost every Tuesday night recently.  However, I hope that it will come out on DVD so that I can watch it in its entirety.  The episodes I have gotten to seen have blown me away in their portrayal of High School, High School Christians, the role of God in people’s lives, etc.