Bryann Jones

Mr. Hackney
English 101: Rhetoric
19 September 2014
Statement of Scope for the Annotated Bibliography
How parent relationships affect teen relationships?
Even though some parents might argue that interaction with teens does affect their sexual
tendencies, those activities are generally present regardless of whether parent intervention is
present or not.
To begin, Even though some parents might argue that interaction with teens does affect
their sexual tendencies, those activities are generally present regardless of whether parent
intervention is present or not. This is dependent on environmental influences, and personal
influences. Schools are also a big issue as they present sexual education at ages that are
unprecedented. Society has also shaped us into thinking that teen pregnancy, abortion, and sex is
okay and have provided alternatives to help those who chose to be irresponsible a level of
support. These influences are proven to form a pattern of behavior which in turn helps shape
decisions. Those decisions eventually form into sexual tendencies which can still be altered even
if they become a pattern. There are multiple ways that claim to have ways to fix these tendencies
but they all seem to oppose one another.
To continue, sexual interests are issues only when recognized by a child, and until a child
conceives what sex is there is no issue to discuss this behavior. This is dependent on
environmental influences, and personal influences. These influences were shown as such in the
writing "The Association between Parent, Family and Peer Religiosity and Teenagers' Sexual
Experience and Contraceptive Use" which related all of the influences that a teenager can have
within one's life. It also explains how some studies have proven that regardless of whether there
was some or none interaction sexual tendencies still occurred. This meaning that although
intervention is key to stopping early sexual activities and there are studies that support this there
are also studies that support the opposite that despite parent intervention teens still make the
conscious decision to have sex.
Equally important, despite the conflicting arguments of parental involvement preventing
sexual tendencies there are other strong factors to take into consideration. Schools are also a big
issue as they present sexual education at ages that are unprecedented. In Illinois it is a state
requirement by 8th grade for a child in the public school system to have been taught at minimum
one full term of sex education or birth and birth methods. This was at the time controversial but
now is thought to be very appropriate with pregnancies starting at much younger ages. However
studies show that more than 75% of children between 6th-8th grades showed no interest in
sexual activity (NY Times) until some form of sexual education was presented to them. In other

words they are not considering sex at all until it is presented to them and explained to them.
Although this method does give them the necessary tools to avoid getting diseases and creating
pregnancies it also puts almost too much thought of the topic into their minds.
Thirdly, Society has also shaped us into thinking that teen pregnancy, abortion, and sex is
okay and have provided alternatives to help those who chose to be irresponsible a level of
support. As a country we provide support to those whom are in need including teens whom have
babies. Due to the increasing amount of teens though making the decisions to have babies the
government increased the amount of food stamps and welfare to accommodate the 43% increase
between 2007 to 2013.This added another 1 billion dollars in support. The question is though are
we sending a message of support or simply enabling people to not aspire for more in life and live
off of hard working tax payers money Should the United States accommodate those who make
uncandid decisions? If the United States did not enable teens and allow them the cushion of
financial support that they do maybe teens would be more responsible and less careless.
Regardless though the social demand for children, single mothers, and teen pregnancy is
unprecedented at the moment and if the support was advocated for stopping the rapid
pregnancies all together maybe there would be less demand for aid and support.
To Conclude, Even though some parents might argue that interaction with teens does
affect their sexual tendencies, those activities are generally present regardless of whether parent
intervention is present or not. This is dependent on environmental influences, and personal
influences. Schools are also a big issue as they present sexual education at ages that are
unprecedented. Society has also shaped us into thinking that teen pregnancy, abortion, and sex is
okay and have provided alternatives to help those who chose to be irresponsible a level of
support. These factors all support the current dilemma of rapid pregnancy and parent
communication failures. If we focused our energy on working on these sub issues maybe the
overall issue being parents influence on their children would be a whole lot easier. Overall
though, if America would just decide to leave sex education up to American parents the blame
would only fall on them and not the country as a whole. If we are going too advocated for
change we need to either do something about it or leave the issue alone. If we dont plan to make
a more aggressive approach like China did by making a child birth limit, then we need to come
up with a more subtle solution if not we need to accept the issues at hand and continually
increase revenue to support pregnancy struggles in America.

Works Cited
Anonymous. "The Association between Parent, Family and Peer Religiosity and Teenagers'
Sexual Experience and Contraceptive Use." Youth Today. 01 Feb. 2006: 23. eLibrary.
Web. 17 Sep. 2014. This intriguing web article called "The Association between Parent,
relates all of the influences that a teenager can have within one's life. It then breaks down

the different affect or role each of these members play in a teens sexual tendencies. It also
explains how some studies have proven that regardless of whether there was some or
none interaction sexual tendencies still occurred. This information was very resourcing to
my topic.
Bouris, Alida., Guilamo-Ramos, Vincent., Cherry, Kevin., Dittus, Patricia., Michael, Shannon.,
Gloppen, Kari.. "Preventing Rapid Repeat Births Among Latina Adolescents: The Role
of Parents." American Journal of Public Health 10(2012):1842. eLibrary. Web. 17 Sep.
2014. This article "Preventing Rapid Repeat Births among Latina Adolescents: The Role
of Parents" focuses on the sexual tendencies of African American girls and breaks down
their tendencies and afflictions in their lives that can cause them to experience sexual
activity at an early age than usual. It also explains of some tendencies that lead to birth at
an earlier age. These tendencies are also followed by statistics that show how
environmental surroundings affect upbringings in Latinos and behavioral patterns.
Fitzgerald, Shawn, Jordan, Timothy R Price, James H. "Rural parents' communication with their
teen-agers about sexual issues." The Journal of School Health: n. pag. elibrary. Web. 11
Oct. 2000.
<http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/elib/do/document?set=search&dictionaryClick=&s
econdaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_standard&resultid=1&edition=&ts=C810BD4
F2FC793840766E68CBD17E179_1410885083287&start=1&publicationId=&urn=urn%
3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B70483458>. The article titled "Rural
parents' communication with their teenagers about sexual issues" talks about sexual
tendencies that differ from that of urban children. It also explains how the difference
between rural to urban parenting affects sexual exploration. These in turn are still

dependent on parental guidance. The article suggests that the nature and effectiveness of
parental guidance effects the child's behavior later down the road.
Jones, Rachel K., Singh, Susheela., Purcell, Alison.. "Parent-Child Relations Among Minor
Females Attending U.S. Family Planning Clinics."Family Planning Perspectives
4(2005):192. eLibrary. Web. 17 Sep. 2014. This article "Parent-Child Relations among
Minor Females Attending U.S. Family Planning Clinics." explains a program offered in
the United States to teenage girls. These programs are offered as family planning courses
that help establish a plan between parents and pregnant teens. The program also examines
behavior to then use to help others plan relationships with their parents. The information
is based on multiple different bases of profiled teens.
Rodriguez, Cleo,, Rodriguez, Cleo, Jr.; Moore, B. Moore, Nelwyn B., Jr. "Perceptions of
pregnant/parenting teens: reframing issues for an integrated approach to pregnancy
problems." Adolescence Sept.-Oct. 1995: n. pag. elibrary. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.
<http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/elib/do/document?set=search&dictionaryClick=&s
econdaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_standard&resultid=4&edition=&ts=C810BD4
F2FC793840766E68CBD17E179_1410885083287&start=1&publicationId=&urn=urn%
3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B28022139>. This article "Perceptions
of pregnant/parenting teens: reframing issues for an integrated approach to pregnancy
problems" looks at what pregnant teens are thinking and tries to think of ways to stop that
method of thinking. It is remedial but it is a different approach compared to others. It
talks about using mindsets of the opposing manner to cause behavioral changes. This
process is time consuming but studies have shown it to be effective.

"Sexual and Reproductive Health; Survey reveals surprising insights into parental attitudes
toward teen sex." Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA. 05 Sep. 2004: 112. eLibrary. Web.
17 Sep. 2014. This article "Sexual and Reproductive Health; Survey reveals surprising
insights into parental attitudes toward teen sex." This article approaches what parents
think about sex and their insights or attitudes towards sex. The results were actually quite
surprising as most parents did not seem to mind their parents having sex. This was
controversy to the attitudes of pregnant teenagers parents. This showing that parents are
bias until placed into an actual situation where their teen is pregnant.