Seventeen Magazine and Kaiser Family Foundation Release New Survey of Teens About Relationships
As part of an on-going public information partnership called SexSmarts, seventeen and the Kaiser Family Foundation conduct nationally-representative surveys of teens 15 to 17 on issues related to their sexual health. The latest in the series is about relationships. Teens say that whether it's a casual hook up, or a more serious relationship, there is not a lot of difference in terms of what their peers do sexually. About a quarter of teens report that sexual intercourse and oral sex are equally likely to occur in either kind of relationship among people they know. The survey also suggests that some young people may be too trusting in their relationships: a majority admit that condoms are less of a necessity when the relationship gets more serious. Teens also acknowledge that even when there is a boy/girlfriend in the picture, relationships aren't always exclusive: twenty-four percent report cheating is a pretty common occurrence.
