Dr. Margaret J. Blythe and her colleagues at the Indiana University Medical Center, Indianapolis say in a new study that teenage girls feel pressurized into having unwanted sex .
Unwanted sex occurs often within the sexual relationships of teens,' the researchers write in the June issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 'These unwanted sexual experiences result in risk for sexually transmitted infections and pregnancies. Sexual health counseling to reduce risk should focus on both the patient's and the partner's behaviors.'In their study of 279 teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 17, the researchers found that at least 41 percent of the girls had to have sex when they did not want it. 10 percent of them said that their boyfriends forced them to have sex, while 38 percent said that they did it since they felt their boyfriends would get angry if they said no.
'Girls were also more likely to be pressured into sex if they were in a long-term relationship, if they had had a baby with their partner, or if they felt they didn't have control with a partner when it came to sex,' the researchers said. The use of drugs like marijuana and alcohol also influenced teenage girls to have sex.
