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WORK TITLE: Sexuality in Adolescence: The Digital Generation
WORK NOTES: with Meredith Temple-Smith and Susan Moore
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1938
WEBSITE:
CITY: Melbourne
STATE: VIC
COUNTRY: Australia
NATIONALITY: Australian
http://www.assa.edu.au/fellowship/fellow/282 * http://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Doreen-Rosenthal/1544/authordetail.aspx * http://alumni.news.unimelb.edu.au/doreen-rosenthal-and-susan-moore
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born September 23, 1938, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; married; children: three.
EDUCATION:Holds B.A.; University of Melbourne, Ph.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Psychologist, educator, and writer. Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, founding director; University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, professor emeritus at the School of Population Health, director of Key Centre for Women’s Health in Society.
AWARDS:Inducted as officer in the Order of Australia, for services to adolescent research and policy, 2003.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Born in 1938 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Doreen Rosenthal is a developmental psychologist at the University of Melbourne. She was founding director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society and was a professor of women’s health and director at the Key Centre for Women’s Health in Society at the University of Melbourne.
Publishing numerous academic articles, several books, and book chapters, Rosenthal has cowritten books on youth, AIDS, and grandparenting with Susan Moore, a developmental social psychologist at Swinburne University Melbourne. In 1993, Rosenthal and Moore cowrote Sexuality in Adolescence, reprinted in subsequent editions to discuss current trends. The third edition in 2015, Sexuality in Adolescence: The Digital Generation, was produced with additional cowriter Meredith J. Temple-Smith, director of research training in the Department of General Practice at the University of Melbourne. The book discusses the biological, social, and health-related approaches to adolescence, with a focus on research into psychology, epidemiology, and medicine. The authors explain how the developing brain and changing hormone levels influence sexual activity, and they explore healthy sexual development for teens. They address risk taking, teen pregnancy and abortion, and the need for reality-based sex education.
Today’s technological advancements pose a unique situation for adolescents. The authors discuss the impact of social media and technology on sexual development, body image, slut shaming, pornography, and gender stereotypes. A survey of 500 students ages fourteen to seventeen showed that fifty-seven percent used the media, particularly Web sites, as a source of sex education. Writing in Choice, W.P. Anderson said: “This is a major summation of what is known about adolescent sexuality in 2015, offering up-to-date information.” Online at Metapsychology, Shaun Miller remarked: “The book is written in such a way where you can delve into an individual chapter without needing to know the previous chapters, and the writing style is clear.”
Rosenthal and Moore joined with cowriter Anne Mitchell to publish the 1996 title Youth, AIDS, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The book describes the worldwide prevalence and impact of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among youth. The authors offer information from health-care providers, sex educators, and counselors of adolescents on the impact of AIDS around the world. In the process, they provide an overview of research and policy aimed at combatting STDs and discuss how sexual behavior has changed in light of the AIDS epidemic, how young people view risk, and changing attitudes about sexual health.
Rosenthal and Moore partnered to write New Age Nanas: Being a Grandmother in the 21st Century in 2012. Drawing on interviews with a thousand modern Australian grandmothers, the authors explore how the role of grandmother has evolved in the twentieth century. Those interviewed discuss changing relationships with grandchildren, negotiating conflicts, taking personal time for themselves, and making the most of being a grandmother. In an interview with Sarah Marinos for the Melbourne Herald Sun, Rosenthal, with seven grandchildren of her own, commented: “Women talked about feeling renewed as a person and gaining a younger perspective by seeing the world through their grandchild’s eyes.”
Rosenthal and Moore followed up with Grandparenting: Contemporary Perspectives in 2017. Social and psychological research, survey results, observations, case studies, and data on grandfathers are used to reflect on the contemporary positive approach to aging. The authors discuss gerontology, caregiving, changing family structures, how people respond to the challenges and possibilities of grandparenting, intergenerational relationships, and growing older.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Choice, April, 2016, W.P. Anderson, review of Sexuality in Adolescence: The Digital Generation, p. 1203.
Youth Studies Australia, June, 2010, David Farrugia, review of Moving Out, Moving On: Young People’s Pathways In and Through Homelessness, p. 6.
ONLINE
Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ (October 24, 2014), review of New Age Nanas: Being a Grandmother in the 21st Century.
Metapsychology, http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/ (Mar 29, 2016), review of Sexuality in Adolescence: The Digital Generation.
University of Melbourne Web site, http://alumni.news.unimelb.edu.au/ (April 1, 2017), “Doreen Rosenthal and Susan Moore.”
LC control no.: n 93017349
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
Rosenthal, Doreen, 1938-
Birth date: 19380923
Found in: Moore, S. Adolescent sexuality in social context, 1994: CIP
t.p. (Doreen Rosenthal) data sheet (b. 9/23/1938)
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Doreen Rosenthal and Susan Moore
Doreen Rosenthal and Susan Moore worked together on adolescent and sexual health projects for more than thirty years.
Research on the 'third age' is their new challenge - one brought about by the desire to write about their experience as grandmothers. [Emeritus Professor Doreen Rosenthal has written about the experience of modern-day grandmothers] Emeritus Professor Doreen Rosenthal has written about the experience of modern-day grandmothers
"The topic of grandmothering certainly became much more interesting to me when I actually became one," says Professor Moore, a Melbourne graduate and former University of Melbourne researcher, now currently based at Swinburne.
Professor Rosenthal is Professor Emeritus in the Melbourne School of Population Health. She believes grandparents are an under-researched group.
"It's such an important part of my life and my friends' lives, but there’s so little known about ordinary grandmothers and their experiences," she says.
"As a researcher, I wanted to put some rigour into the way I investigated this important aspect of most women's lives."
Together they wrote New Age Nanas - Being a Grandmother in the 21st century. The book is the first of two investigations into grandparents' experiences, with another work focusing on grandfathers still to come.
Comprising analysis of interviews and survey data, New Age Nanas delves into the joys and challenges facing Australian grandmothers, using the participants' own words to illustrate these themes.
More than 1,200 women aged between 34 and 92 years completed an online survey. Research covered experiences on health and ageing, relationship conflicts, time demands and the pastoral role of grandmothers.
With the traditional 'nuclear' family having become less common, grandmotherly experiences are no longer uniform. The research revealed a range of family structures.
"Several stood out for me. One was a young lesbian grandmother whose lesbian daughter had just had a baby boy," Professor Rosenthal says.
"This grandmother talked about her dreams for her tiny grandson, how he had already turned her life upside down but in the best possible way."
"She talked about having a 'disease called love'," Professor Rosenthal says.
Another participant became a grandmother at 33 years of age, upsetting the stereotypical image of grandmothers as old ladies.
Stepchildren add a complex and increasingly common layer to the grand-parenting experience. Professor Moore is a step-grandmother herself and stresses that love doesn't have to be based on a biological link.
"You feel just as deeply for the children, regardless of whether they are step-grandchildren or not," she says.
Professor Moore says some of the pleasure of grandparenting comes from the wisdom of having been a parent, while some derives from being able to enjoy the children without the responsibility of their full-time care.
"Handing back children is a great benefit. It doesn't mean the grandmothers don't love the children; it means they don't have to worry about the daily responsibility, the tantrums and the sleepless nights."
The research stories are descriptive of the unique bond grandmothers have with their grandchildren - a relationship often described as 'doting'. The book examines the pastoral aspect of grandparenting, with 76 per cent of surveyed grandmothers acting as confidantes and wisdom-givers.
"It was interesting how many women saw that as an important part of their role," Professor Rosenthal says.
Professor Moore believes that grandmothers benefit from being emotionally close to their grandchildren, while retaining sufficient distance that allows them to calmly discuss issues that grandchildren were reluctant to discuss with parents.
"A few of the grandmothers mentioned that their grandchildren - particularly their younger ones - confided in them. Sometimes there would be a special relationship, with things that couldn't be told to parents," she says.
Modern grandmothers cope with emotional demands not previously required of past generations. Combined with longer life expectancy and increased mobility, it means grandmothers have become more active. Most grandmothers (73 per cent) enjoyed good or excellent health.
"I loved my grandparents, but they seemed very old - certainly for as long as I remember them, they were stereotypically old," Professor Rosenthal recalls.
"Neither they nor their friends drove. The women didn't work outside the home."
The comparison with Professor Rosenthal's experience is stark.
"I don't remember ever having coffee or going to lunch with my grandmothers, something I do often now with my older grandchildren," she says.
"I dress differently and think differently from my grandparents."
Professor Moore's recollection mirrors those of her co-author.
"My generation often remembers grandmothers as people who sat in rocking chairs and people brought them cups of tea. They didn't actually interact," she says.
Involvement becomes crucial in an era when many women retain a role in the workforce. Grandmothers often step in as child-care providers, spending on average 12 hours per week with their grandchildren.
"Daughters are having the conversation more often with their mothers where they ask for help to keep working. That conversation becomes a standard in some families," Professor Moore believes.
These themes are already influencing the compilation of their book on grandfathers, who view their role somewhat differently.
"We've seen evidence that grandfathers are interested in their grandchildren's financial future, whereas grandmothers more likely think about the 'here and now' nurturing," Professor Moore says.
By Chris Weaver
Professor Doreen Rosenthal AO
BA (hons), PhD (Melbourne)
Elected: 1998
Discipline: Psychology (Panel D)
Specialisation: HIV/AIDS, sexuality, adolescence, gender, sexual health, sex education
Professor Doreen Rosenthal was formerly Director of the Key Centre for Women's Health in Society, University of Melbourne, prior to which she was Director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Professor Rosenthal specialises in studies of adolescence, gender, sexuality, sexual health, and sex education.
Key appointments in the last ten years: Member, Australian Health Ethics Committee; Deputy Chair, Australian National Council on AIDS and Related Diseases (ANCARD); Chair, ANCARD Education Sub-Committee; Member of Council, International Society for Research on Adolescence.
Professor Rosenthal was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia in 2003 and is the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in
Key appointments
Awards
Publications
Temple-Smith, M., Moore, S.M., & Rosenthal, D.A. (2015). Sexuality in adolescence: The digital generation. London: Taylor and Francis.
Rosenthal, D.A. & Moore, S.M. (2012). New age nanas: Grandmothers in the 21st century. Sydney: Blue Sky Press
Mallett, S., Rosenthal, D., Keys, D., & Averill, R. (2010). Moving out, moving on: Young people’s pathways in and through homelessness. London: Taylor and Francis.
Kirkman, M., Rosenthal, D.A., & Johnson, L. (2007). Telling it my way: A guide for parents of donor-conceived adolescents. Melbourne: Infertility Treatment Authority.
Moore, S.M. & Rosenthal, D.A. (2006). Sexuality in Adolescence: Current Trends. London: Taylor and Francis.
Feldman, S.S. & Rosenthal, D.A. (Eds.) (2002). Talking Sexuality: Parent-Adolescent Communication. Jossey-Bass, USA.
Moore, S.M. & Rosenthal, D.A. (1993). Sexuality in Adolescence. London: Routledge. Italian translation by Franco Angeli, 1999.
Contact: Please contact via the Academy
Doreen Rosenthal was born in Melbourne and in her mid-20s, married with 3 small children, took the brave step of going to university. She became passionately interested in psychology and worked in that field until the early 90s when she began researching in public health, initially in HIV/AIDS and most recently women’s health. During this time, she developed two award-winning websites on adolescent sexuality and sexual health. Doreen retired in 2008 but has continued to carry out research. She spends a lot of time with her family, including her seven grandchildren.
PROF Doreen A. ROSENTHAL
Positions
Honorary, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Adolescence (young people, youth)
Marginalised populations (homeless, gay & lesbian, CALD)
Sexual health (sexuality, reproductive health, STIs, HIV)
Overview
Affiliation
Publications
Research
Awards
Linkages
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Doreen Rosenthal is a developmental psychologist at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include adolescent psychology, particularly sexuality and sexual health, and the social determinants of health. She has published over one hundred and forty refereed journal articles, several books and many book chapters.
Temple-Smith, Meredith. Sexuality in adolescence: the digital generation
W.P. Anderson
53.8 (Apr. 2016): p1203.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
Temple-Smith, Meredith. Sexuality in adolescence: the digital generation, by Meredith Temple-Smith, Susan Moore, and Doreen Rosenthal. Routledge, 2016. 354p bibl index ISBN 9781848723016 cloth, $160.00; ISBN 9781848723023 pbk, $57.95
53-3564
HQ27
2015-6898 CIP
Temple-Smith, Moore, and Rosenthal (all Australia-based scholars) have written an extensive exploration of the effect of the explosion in digital technologies on the sexual behavior of adolescents. In examining the complexities underlying sexual behavior, sexual health, and sex education, the authors reference 900 studies conducted in countries around the world. Thus, this is a major summation of what is known about adolescent sexuality in 2015, offering up-to-date information on how the developing brain and changing hormone levels influence sexual activity. The authors give special attention to the reality that modern technology influences adolescents' attitudes about body image and sexual interactions by providing models that are not always in the best interests of the teenage audience. This has led to an increase in the number of sex partners and a corresponding increase in sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Statistics are highlighted and made more relevant by quotes from teenagers in many different situations and cultures. The authors clearly note that more reality-based sex education is needed to promote healthy sexual attitudes and behavior. This book can play a part in creating that education. Summing Up: ** Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.--W. P. Anderson, University of Missouri--Columbia
Anderson, W.P.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Anderson, W.P. "Temple-Smith, Meredith. Sexuality in adolescence: the digital generation." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Apr. 2016, p. 1203. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA449661695&it=r&asid=1026ea2adb31c0f6b9073d1d0599b6ec. Accessed 27 Feb. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A449661695
Moving out, moving on--young people's pathways in and through homelessness
David Farrugia
29.2 (June 2010): p6.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 Australian Clearing House for Youth Studies
http://www.acys.utas.edu.au
Moving out, moving on--young people's pathways in and through homelessness Shelley Mallett, Doreen Rosenthal, Deborah Keys and Roger Averill, 2009, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-47030-8
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
This book is an important contribution to understandings of youth homelessness, both in Australia and internationally. Drawing on rich qualitative data from young people and a strong conceptual framework, the book relates the experiences of young people experiencing homelessness in Australia to broader social structures and the construction of modern biographies by young people generally. The book concludes with important reflections on the relationship between agency and structural processes, and argues that policy frameworks must recognise the importance of complex interdependencies in young people's lives if they are to address the issue of youth homelessness.
The book's conceptual framework assesses a number of central concepts in research on youth homelessness, including the meaning of 'home', and the notion of risk. The authors use a pathways metaphor to reflect on the combination of agency and structure in young people's lives. Four pathways are identified, each of which describes a distinct set of experiences, relationships with family and services, and plans for the future. One important outcome of the book is the importance of family and other relationships in determining whether or not young people are able to eventually return home--or create their own. The authors also reflect on the way the narratives they analyse fit in to broader trends in modern society, particularly widespread individualism in both young people's identities and policy frameworks. They conclude by emphasising the importance of interdependence as a basis for policy that aims to address the realities of youth homelessness. An important study with wide-ranging implications for research, policy and practice, this book will be of interest to students, policymakers and researchers alike.
David Farrugia
University of Melbourne, Australia
Farrugia, David
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Farrugia, David. "Moving out, moving on--young people's pathways in and through homelessness." Youth Studies Australia, June 2010, p. 6. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA229302349&it=r&asid=480a06da030dfbca1778c346481e4d2e. Accessed 27 Feb. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A229302349
Modern grandmas a far cry from our old childhood stereotypes
Sarah Marinos, Herald Sun
October 24, 2014 12:00pm
Ads by Kiosked
THEY may be regular travellers or starting to explore parts of the world they’ve never seen.
'New Age Nanas: Being a grandmother in the 21st century' by Doreen Rosenthal and Susan Moore.
They may look and feel years younger than they really are and their interests are diverse and evolving.
For many women today, including those celebrating National Grandparents Day tomorrow, being a grandmother is a world away from the stereotype of sitting on a porch with grey hair, knitting needles and a couple of cats for company.
Professor Doreen Rosenthal is co-author of New Age Nanas: Being a Grandmother in the 21st Century and is also Professor Emeritus at the Melbourne School of Population Health. Along with Swinburne University of Technology’s Professor Susan Moore she has interviewed grandmothers about their experiences in a world-first study.
“Women talked about feeling renewed as a person and gaining a younger perspective by seeing the world through their grandchild’s eyes,” Rosenthal says.
“Some had done exercise classes and gone on diets to become fitter so they could be with the grandchildren. Most of our grandmothers were working. They wanted to do things like travel and were out there playing sport or bridge and being involved. The world has become so much more complicated and these women were engaged with the world in a way that is quite new.”
LEILA FARHA, 50, (pictured above) from Reservoir has eight grandchildren aged between six weeks and seven years. She is a businesswoman who owns Cafe Rez with her son Daniel.
I WAS 19 when I had my first child and I had three kids by the age of 23. I was born in Lebanon, migrated to Sydney with my parents when I was 12 and married at 18. I was a grandmother by the time I was 42 and it was the best feeling ever. I come from a big family – I’m one of 11 children – and I always wanted a big family, too.
And I wanted to be a younger grandmother. When I visited my own grandmother in Lebanon as a child she was old. I remember she was in bed and so she couldn’t do anything with me. She passed away after we migrated, so I don’t have many memories of her.
I couldn’t enjoy time with her as much as my grandchildren enjoy spending time with me. I play with them, we put on music and dance together and they give me energy. I think I have more patience now, too. They come to my house and we play with playdough, colour in and cook muffins.
My son Daniel and his family lived with me and my husband for four years so his oldest daughter, Leila, is particularly attached to me and she likes to sleep over once a week. It gives me great pleasure to spend time with any of my grandchildren and to hear them call me “taita” — grandmother in Lebanese.
But while family is important to me, I’ve always been in business. We had a cafe in Moonee Ponds for 10 years and Daniel and I now own Cafe Rez (in Reservoir) together. Later I’d like to have a fashion boutique because I like to dress well and to have my hair and make-up done. I never go out in a tracksuit.
Sometimes people are surprised when they realise I have eight grandchildren. I’d take my daughter’s children shopping and when I was pushing the pram people would think they were my children, not my grandchildren. That still happens.
Doreen Rosenthal with Ava, 7, who is one of seven grandaughters.
DOREEN ROSENTHAL, 76, has seven grandchildren aged between seven and 23.
She is an academic and author living in Melbourne.
I WAS fortunate to have both grandmothers until
I was in my mid-20s. My paternal grandmother was fairly distant. She was a migrant and had a difficult life and I’m sure she loved my sister and me but she didn’t know how to show that. So I respected her but didn’t feel very strongly towards her.
My maternal grandmother was the stereotypical grandmother — big bosomed, cardigans, always in the kitchen cooking, sitting you on her knee and telling stories. My grandfather was an artist so they didn’t have much money to spare, but I adored her and she was a good role model to me.
She was an at-home mother and grandmother though and since my children were small, I’ve always been at full-time work.
Now my husband and I have a wide range of interests too — we’re great travellers. So I’m not always available to my children and grandchildren, but when I am available, I do what I can. My children always knew I was a working mother who wasn’t there to ferry them to every activity. They knew I was in a responsible position at work and couldn’t just duck out and they didn’t expect things to be any different when I became a grandmother.
It has meant though that my grandchildren grew up loving me and respecting me as a working person, too.
“I remember being a young mother weighed down by the responsibility of ensuring my three children grew up safe and sound, were fed properly and nurtured and became the adults I hoped they would be. As a grandmother you don’t have those responsibilities. So with the youngest grandchild, I get down on the floor and play games with her.
Modern day grandmother Pina Constanzo with grandson Leo, five months. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
PINA COSTANZO, 53, from Reservoir is a fitness consultant. She’s also grandmother to Leo, who was born in May.
WHEN I first realised I was going to be a grandmother I didn’t feel old enough.
I feel nothing like my own grandmothers. They both lived in Italy and when I met them as a child they seemed so old. They had never worked because that generation in Italy stayed at home — I suppose they were the more traditional type of grandmother.
I feel more like my own mother. Mum is a very hands-on grandmother and she helped care for my nephew, Gabriel before he went to school. She still helps look after him after school so my sister can work. And Mum is very fit and active too — she goes to the gym five days a week. She’s the kind of grandmother I want to be to Leo.
I teach aqua and yoga classes and help clients at the local leisure centre and gym. I also walk an hour a day and like to weight train and exercise.
I think the myth is that you become a grandmother and do less and less but I want to stay busy and fit.
My husband, Serge, and I have already made Leo a member of Collingwood Football Club and I’m looking forward to taking him to the footy, to the movies and to the zoo and to the beach.
I feel I missed out on having my grandmothers around when I was growing up — I didn’t have that bond that I want to have with Leo in the future.
I think grandmothers are there to spoil their grandchildren and to talk to them about the old times and to share their life experiences and advice.
Grandmother Gaye Miller in Cambodia with her 'grandson' Billy and Billy's father Mitch.
GAYE MILLER, 67, from Rosebud is honorary grandmother to four children in Cambodia. Gaye began supporting orphanages 13 years ago and still supports a number of orphans and their children.
I WAS born in England and spent a lot of my childhood living with foster parents — a lovely retired couple. I went to a church school and went to camps run by missionaries from overseas.
They told stories of mothers and fathers in Africa walking miles in the heat and dust to carry a sick baby to hospital. I dreamed of becoming a nurse and looking after sick children.
Gaye and Billy enjoying ice cream.
When I migrated to Australia I never gave up on that dream but it wasn’t until 2001 that I took some time off work and spent a few weeks volunteering at orphanages in Cambodia.
Many of the children had lost parents to landmines or the Khmer Rouge. They wore rags, begged in the streets and had little chance of an education that would give them a better life.
When I returned to Australia, friends and colleagues who knew about my trip donated money to help me buy clothes, medical supplies, books and toys for the children so I could return to the orphanages again and take supplies. I never realised I’d be doing it for this long but I love it.
I met one of my “daughters” — Mophay — when she was 17.
I put her through school and helped pay her medical bills.
She had polio as a child so had some health issues but she now has three children — Billy, who is 5, and identical twin girls of 20 months, Vutha Mona and Vutha Sana. Another “daughter”, Den Nary, has an 18-month-old daughter, Gunn Arisa.
The little children all call me Yeay Barang, which means Western grandmother.
I like the old-fashioned idea of the grandparents being the wise part of the family, the pillar. I want to be in the background as a support figure to my grandchildren but I also love adventure. I’m not ready just yet to sit down by the fireside knitting socks and eating chocolates.
New Age Nanas, by Doreen Rosenthal and Susan Moore, Big Sky Publishing, rrp $25
grandparentsday.org.au
Review - Sexuality in Adolescence
The digital generation
by Meredith Temple-Smith, Susan Moore, and Doreen Rosenthal
Routledge, 2015
Review by Shaun Miller
Mar 29th 2016 (Volume 20, Issue 13)
Sexuality is influenced by many discursive topics: biology, psychology, physiology, cultural influences, sociology, and philosophy. Lately, however, the advancement of technology has shaped sexuality, particularly the youth since they seem to be more adept and take advantage of the new technology as opposed to the older generations who function in what they already know from the past. Social media is now a major part of developing sexual relationships in terms of dating rituals and courtship. While this book is a comprehensive study that covers a lot of ground, I will focus on the chapters that the authors spend a lot of time with, such as sex education and adolescent sexual behavior, but they also cover new ground that deals with the digital generation, such as sexting and the media to see how these new technologies have influenced adolescents. The authors also examine various qualitative and quantitative studies to provide what the latest science says about sexuality.
We often think of adolescents prone to risky behavior and poor judgements, which is due to a lack of prefrontal cortex control. Even if adolescents have the knowledge, they may not implement this knowledge in the heat of the moment. Despite this, we should not think of the adolescent brain as temporarily broken until adulthood. Rather, we should think of the adolescent brain as a "work in progress." This "work in progress" must be incorporated in how we can help the adolescents get used to these new feelings and a new body image to help the adolescents acquire an informed way of being in the world. Engaging in risky behavior is not just biology. We have to understand the context in which the adolescents are in. For example, we may think that with higher levels of testosterone in young men when they enter puberty may be problematic because they may engage in more risk-taking behavior. However, if the boys had non-deviant peers, then these young men were seen as leaders. The relationship between higher levels of hormones and behavior is modified by the social context, which includes sanctions and peer pressures. Most adolescents learn how to cope with their new moods and motivations depending on how supportive the environment they are in.
When it comes to sex education, there is a twin paradox: parents think of their own adolescents as young, innocent, naive and immature. It is the rest of the adolescents that are hypersexual and hormonally out of control. Not only do parents lack knowledge about sexuality, but both parents and children are uncomfortable talking about sexuality. Many studies show that parents have a hard time communicating sex to their children, particularly fathers toward their daughters. If the parents do get involved, most of the talking was done by the mother. However, even if parents can talk to their children about sexuality, parents can reinforce gender roles. To illustrate, the authors provide a study showing that families follow the cultural norms unquestionably. They buy into the "male sex drive discourse" that males have uncontrollable urges, which makes it harder to teach adolescent males that they can take a more caring role without the thought that they are being emasculated by doing so. Parents also try to protect their daughters by stressing their sexual vulnerability and emphasize the dangers of sex whereas sons get more leeway. Focusing on the male as a sexual predator, seeking only pleasure, and the female as victim (seeking only romance and intimacy) perpetuates gender inequalities and traditional sexual scripts. Examples include slut-shaming the sexual double standard. Moreover, many studies show that adolescents get most of their (mis)information about sexuality from their peers.
When it comes to comprehensive sex education programs, young people are generally satisfied, but they felt that the messages were repeated without much of an opportunity to raise new issues or look at the nuances of sexuality. It is mostly taught through a biological lens and hardly focused on communication with partners, relationship dynamics, or pleasure. Some teachers may not up to the task, however. Students preferred sexual health peers or sexual health educators from community organizations to deliver sex education. Most did not want faith-based organizations to deliver the message. However, students did not feel that they had the courage to challenge the teacher because of a power dynamic.
So what are some routes to teach adolescents about sex? Technology has been helpful in informing adolescents about sexual health such as websites geared toward them or apps. Young people want information about sexual health and sexual pleasure, how to communicate with their partners, and how to develop skills in giving their partners pleasure. When it comes to sexual motivations, there are more similarities than differences between the genders. They had the same motivations for intimacy, closeness, self-affirmation, and as a coping strategy. Without a comprehensive sex education, adolescents will not know the skills to reject unwanted consequences. This lack can be seen in the various data of teenage pregnancy.
Young women in the US are 3-4 times more likely to get pregnant than their counterparts in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. And the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the US are found in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Why do adolescents become pregnant? There are many features as to why: inconsistent or non-usage of contraceptives, the glamorization of pregnancy, abuse, and negligence. Contextual factors need to be taken into account such as socioeconomic status and social supports. There is much evidence that pregnant teens have lower grades and lower school motivation before becoming pregnant than their non-pregnant peers. Moreover, economic adversity and educational difficulties are the most common outcomes of becoming an adolescent parent. In the US, for example, black and hispanic adolescents usually keep their babies because their communities typically do not believe that child-bearing leads to social disadvantage. In other words, parenthood at an early age is not seen as disruptive of their everyday lives.
However, adolescents can be pressured into unwanted sexual activity because of perceived norms of the social situation they are in, because of alcohol or drug influences, because they do not know how to express their desires or wishes or are frightened to do so, or because they or their partner hold attitudes and beliefs supporting the use of force/coercion in certain situations and with particular 'types' of people (p. 256). Indeed, many adolescents report that their sex education did not prepare them to deal with unwanted sex or sexual assault, nor the confidence to implement risk-reducing strategies (p. 264).
How does technology play a role in adolescent sexuality? There is ample evidence that heavy exposure to sexual content in the media is associated with more rapid progression of sexual behavior and earlier first sex. From a survey of 500 students ages 14-16, 57 percent used the media as a source of sex education, most of it from websites. Many adolescent sexual minorities have gone to the internet because they feel they can be more honest with themselves than offline. Moreover, the internet can offer therapeutic assistance to young gay people. However, the media can also set up a sexual agenda for young people that does not necessarily reflect their own desires. Magazines aimed at adolescents are designed to tell young women that their function in life is to be sexually attractive to maintain and keep a boyfriend.
Pornography has created expectations in terms of their own and their partner's sexual behaviors. It is also a way to make sure one does certain activities in order to keep the relationship. However, many adolescents are challenging the meanings behind pornography. Teaching about sexual practices can make pornography educational. It can improve sexual knowledge, attitudes toward sex, attitudes and perceptions of the opposite sex, and their general quality of life.
Overall, this book is a good research tool for those who need more information regarding sexuality. The book is written in such a way where you can delve into an individual chapter without needing to know the previous chapters, and the writing style is clear. There is enough updated materials to look further into studies that was mentioned in this short review, and since the digital age is fairly new as well as researching adolescent sexuality from that angle, I am sure there will be many more studies in the future, which makes the information ripe with new understandings on the development of sexuality in general.
© 2016 Shaun Miller
Shaun Miller is a Ph. D student at Marquette University.