epublishing store: Intro

Sexual Health eBook Volume3
Chapter 15

Adolescent Sexuality Viewed Through Two Different Cultural Lenses, Amy Schalet

In the United States, parents, educators, health-care providers, and lawmakers are often conflicted and uncertain about how best to protect young people against a variety of problems associated with sex. Some concern is indeed called for. Many young Americans experience an unwanted pregnancy or contract a sexually transmitted infection (STI) while in their teens or early twenties. Nor are the problems confined to physical outcomes; American teens — especially girls — often experience their first sexual activities as a source of shame, pain, and disappointment, rather than pleasure, connection, and empowerment. Adolescent sexuality also leads to conflict in families, alienating parents and teenagers at exactly a time that young people still very much need parental support. In light of the dangers, conflicts, and alienation that often accompany the first sexual experiences of many adolescents, it is no wonder that teenage sexuality is assumed to spell trouble.

However, international comparison demonstrates that developed countries vary dramatically in the degree to which the sexual maturation of teenagers leads to adverse outcomes. No country forms a more stark contrast for comparison with the United States than does the Netherlands: Dutch teenagers are far less likely to either become pregnant or contract a STI than are their American peers. American teenage girls are three times as likely to have an abortion, and eight times as likely to give birth, as are their Dutch counterparts, even though both are typically 17 years old when they first have sexual intercourse (Abma, Martinez, Mosher, & Dawson, 2004; Alan Guttmacher Institute, 2004; Graaf, Meijer, Poelman, & Vanwesenbeeck, 2005; Rademakers, 2002). And while American teenagers, especially American girls, often tell survey researchers that they regret or felt a lack of control over their sexual experiences, Dutch teenagers typically describe their sexual experiences as wanted, mutually decided, and enjoyable (Abma et al., 2004; Albert, 2004; Graaf et al., 2005).

One reason why the sexual maturation of adolescents leads to more problematic physical and emotional outcomes in the United States than in the Netherlands is that poverty is both more widespread and more intense in the United States (Goodin, Headey, Muffels, & Dirven, 2000). Since many problems that result from teenage sexual activity are disproportionately concentrated among young people who lack economic security and opportunities, it is not surprising that the United States also has much higher rates of teenage pregnancy and STIs.

A second reason that teenage sexuality leads to more troubling outcomes in the United States than in the Netherlands is that Dutch teenagers have access to the comprehensive sex education and reproductive health care that many of their American counterparts lack. Dutch sex education typically emphasizes the conditions and relationship skills that are necessary to make sex mutually decided, pleasurable, and responsible. Young people are encouraged to develop the capacity to articulate their desires and boundaries with their partners and to use contraceptives effectively to prevent unwanted consequences of sex (Braeken, Rademakers, & Reinders, 2002; Greene, Rasekh, & Amen, with Chaya & Dye, 2002). As we will see in the chapter 16 of this volume, American teenagers often do not receive comprehensive sexuality education. Even when young people are taught about contraception, the emphasis remains on the risks and dangers of sex, rather than on their capacity to exercise control over the outcomes of sex. And while Dutch teenagers can obtain contraceptives, most notably the Pill, easily and free of charge, their American peers—especially those who live outside large cities—often encounter obstacles to obtaining information about and access to effective contraception.

But there is a third reason that teenage sexuality is viewed and experienced as deeply problematic in the United States in ways that are not typical in the Netherlands. After the 1960s, different cultural beliefs about the nature of adolescent sexuality and about the role of parents and other adult authorities came to prevail in the two countries. Hence young people who come of age in these two countries encounter very different attitudes and expectations from the adults with whom they interact, including their parents. Based on in-depth interviews with parents in each country, this chapter takes a close look at the different cultural environments that American and Dutch teenagers growing up in white middle-class families encounter as they begin to explore romantic relationships and sex. The chapter concludes by drawing out some implications of this cross-national comparison of parental beliefs and approaches for American health-care professionals.

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