Jun 09
13
Why It’s Important to Be A Good Dad to Teens
There’s another reason why dads to teenagers should especially be involved with their teen’s life during this crucial period when they start to make adult choices in their life, among them choices about sexual involvement with others. There are new studies out that show the involved fathers are important to the sexual choices that teens, both boys and girls, make in their lives, even more important than the involvement of the mother figure, as studies found that an involved dad who influences a teen’s decision to have premarital or risky sexual behavior almost double the effect that the mother has on their teen’s decisions in the all too important sexual realm.
This is of course important not only because of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, but it’s also important because a teen’s sexual behavior also influences how they will feel about themselves, their self esteem and confidence, and feeling of self worth, especially for girls, who tend to take sex more emotionally seriously than boys do since men are hardwired to have sex with multiple partners while girls are hardwired to get emotionally attached faster to their sexual partners.
Although the outcome of the study is unquestionable that father’s have more influence generally over their teen’s sexual behavior, there is not a clear cut answer as to why, but there are thoughts that the way a teen interacts with their mother is different than the adolescent’s interactions with their mother, making their father the bigger influence for whatever reason. Perhaps they don’t want to disappoint their father, or feel that their father would more harshly judge them if they participated in risky sexual behavior, it’s really anyone’s guess, and you can’t exactly get an unbiased and uncut answer from the teens themselves, who may not even know exactly why they are influenced one way or another.
Since the age for having sexual intercourse seems to keep (disturbingly) going down amongst teenagers, it is all that much more important that researchers understand why dads are a bigger influence over their teen’s sexual tendencies toward risky behavior than moms are. Right now, the staggering statistics show that teens have sex to the tune of about 2/3 of the population by the age of eighteen now. I guarantee that’s a higher rate than it was even twenty years ago, and I have a feeling it’s because of the pervasiveness of sex and sexuality in the media today.
