I do think it was a very good list of questions, and of course because there
are differences in the behavior, there must be causes of those differences,
so that specific question was a good one. I am somewhat skeptical about
psychologists' ability to remember normal explanations for behaviors
(particularly behaviors that disturb us) - the time I spent in Educational
Psychology programs really reminded me that we do have an awful tendency to
look for psychopathology in everything (Why can't Johnny sit quietly in his
seat for 6-1/2 hours a day?). I think it would be a very good idea to remind
the students who asked that question not to assume that the behavior has a
pathological cause, if you can figure out a way to do it that doesn't result
in your local paper's headline the next day reading "Local Psychology
Professor Promotes Teen Sex".
Paul Smith (who apparently gets to send more than three messages/day to
TIPS, for some odd reason)
Alverno College
Milwaukee
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Froman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 11:42 AM
Subject: RE: Questions about adolescent sexuality
To be fair to the students, they did ask about causes of abstinence, too. It
is hard to word such a question in a politically correct way. Either way you
put it, it will imply something negative. Putting it in the realm of
hormones seems to imply an absence of responsibility for actions or personal
choice ("boys will be boys" or "girls gone wild"). Asking about causes of
sexual activity evidently makes it sound as if it is not natural (I guess
things that are natural have no causes). Even if we all agree that sexual
activity among teens is morally neutral (and the original question did not
carry an implication of moral judgment), as a natural phenomenon, both
abstinence and sexual behavior must have causes (although our research
methods may not be up to the task of uncovering them just yet).
As to Mike's comment about God playing a joke on teens, I think that our
advanced technological society and its requirements for advanced education
probably get most of the blame there. Especially when students are
encouraged to get their career started before they get married. It is
obvious that we were not created (or we have not evolved if you prefer) to
live in this society. There is an obvious mismatch between biology and
culture when you become capable of reproduction (and begin to have sexual
urges) at 13 and are constrained from getting married before the age of 26.
It has, obviously, not always been so.
Rick
Dr. Rick Froman
Associate Professor of Psychology
John Brown University
2000 W. University
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(479) 524-7295
http://www.jbu.edu/academics/sbs/faculty/rfroman.asp
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 9:43 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences
Subject: Re: Questions about adolescent sexuality
(Removing tongue from cheek) It seems to me that the to-be-explained
phenomenon is why teens refrain from sexual activity, not why they
participate in it.
Paul Smith
Alverno College
Milwaukee
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