{"id":43185,"date":"2012-01-03T12:18:26","date_gmt":"2012-01-03T17:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=43185"},"modified":"2011-12-28T16:33:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-28T21:33:00","slug":"talking-sex-relationships-and-teen-health-with-amy-schalet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/01\/03\/talking-sex-relationships-and-teen-health-with-amy-schalet\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking Sex, Relationships, & Teen Health with Sociologist Amy Schalet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Cross-posted at Citings and Sightings<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In an\u00a0interview<\/a>\u00a0discussing whether teen sleepovers can actually prevent teen pregnancy, CNN\u2019s Ali Velshi says flatly, \u201cThis is a little bit counter-intuitive.\u201d But as his interviewee, UMass sociologist\u00a0Amy Schalet<\/a>\u00a0(who wrote on this subject in\u00a0Contexts<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>in \u201cSex, Love, and Autonomy in the Teenage Sleepover<\/a>\u201d in the Summer of 2010), explains:<\/p>\n

Let me clarify: it\u2019s not a situation where everything goes\u2026 It\u2019s definitely older teenage couples who have established relationships and whose parents have talked about contraception.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which is to say, as Velshi puts it, sex and sex education in countries like the Netherlands, in which parents are more permissive\u2014or as Schalet says, \u201cparents are more connected with their kids\u201d\u2014about allowing boyfriends and girlfriends to sleep over, take \u201ca holistic approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Schalet\u2019s research, explored more deeply in her new University of Chicago book\u00a0Not Under My Roof<\/em><\/a>, takes a look at American parenting practices surrounding teen sex and the practices of parents in other countries. Using in-depth interviews with parents and teens and a host of other data, she finds:<\/p>\n

The takeaway for American parents\u2026 isn\u2019t necessarily \u201cYou must permit sleepovers.\u201d Many parents are going to say, \u201cNot under my roof!\u201d That\u2019s why it\u2019s the title of my book. The takeaway is that you can have more open conversations\u2014you\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0probably have more open conversations\u2014about what\u2019s a good relationship, sex and contraception should go together, what does it mean to be \u201cready,\u201d how to get rid of some of these damaging stereotypes (gender stereotypes). Those are all things that are going to help promote teenage health and better relationships between parents and kids.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Schalet is clear that parental approaches are nowhere near the only factor in the stark differences in teen pregnancy rates between the U.S. and the Netherlands, but says they are, in fact, particularly important. \u201cKids are having sex, clearly,\u201d Velshi says. And that\u2019s precisely the point, no matter whether parents believe their kids should be able to have sex in their own homes, Schalet believes: \u201cI think what you emphasize is that, above all, the\u00a0conversation<\/em>\u00a0is important, and the conversation itself does not make kids have sex.\u201d Ideally, she points out, that conversation will take place at home with parents, but a holistic talk about sexuality, relationships, and health can also take place in schools, with clergy, and in many other locations.<\/p>\n

Dr. Schalet on CNN (we apologize for the commercial):<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Amy Schalet’s new book is Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens, and the Culture of Sex<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Letta Page is the Associate Editor and Producer of The Society Pages<\/a>. She has a decade of experience in academic editing across a range of disciplines, including two years as the managing editor of\u00a0Contexts<\/a><\/em>. Page holds degrees in history and classical studies from Boston University and an art degree from the University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

If you would like to write a post for Sociological Images, please see our\u00a0Guidelines for Guest Bloggers<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted at Citings and Sightings. In an\u00a0interview\u00a0discussing whether teen sleepovers can actually prevent teen pregnancy, CNN\u2019s Ali Velshi says flatly, \u201cThis is a little bit counter-intuitive.\u201d But as his interviewee, UMass sociologist\u00a0Amy Schalet\u00a0(who wrote on this subject in\u00a0Contexts\u00a0in \u201cSex, Love, and Autonomy in the Teenage Sleepover\u201d in the Summer of 2010), explains: Let me clarify: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2083,223,34,252,272,1789,3920,42,120],"class_list":["post-43185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abortionreproduction","tag-childrenyouth","tag-education","tag-healthmedicine","tag-marriagefamily","tag-nation-the-netherlands","tag-nation-united-states","tag-religion","tag-sex"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43185"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43200,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43185\/revisions\/43200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}