Not Many Doctors Discuss About Sex with Teens: Study

Less than two thirds doctors and teens talk about sex, a latest research reveals.

"It's hard for physicians to treat adolescents and help them make healthy choices about sex if they don't have these conversations," said lead author Stewart Alexander, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine at Duke University. "For teens who are trying to understand sex and sexuality, not talking about sex could have huge implications."

The researchers found that the conversations last not more than minute, on average. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, doctors are suggested to share their information about sex with teens to make them aware of sexual development, sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy prevention.

For the study, the researchers studied the audio recordings of annual visits for 253 adolescents. The teens, aged between 12 and 17, visited pediatricians and family physicians at 11 clinics in North Carolina.

The study results showed that doctors talked about sex in just 65 percent of visits and their conversations lasted a mere 36 second on average.

"We saw that physicians spent an average of 22.4 minutes in the exam room with their patients. Even when discussions about sex occurred, less than 3 percent of the visit was devoted to topics related to sex," Alexander said, according to Medical Xpress. "This limited exchange is likely inadequate to meet the sexual health prevention needs of teens."

The researchers also found that the youngsters answered just yes or no questions with limited discussion and only 4 percent had longer discussions about sex with the physicians.

Interestingly, the observations also showed that females were more than twice as likely to spend more time discussing about sex.

"The implication for males is troublesome because as they get older, they become less likely to routinely see physicians outside of checkups or sports physicals," said Alexander. "Thus, the annual visits become essential and are perhaps the only opportunity for physicians to address the sexual behaviors of adolescent boys."

The older teens were found to talk more about sex than the younger ones, the study found.

"There's a saying that it's always better to have the conversation two years too soon than one day too late," Alexander said. "If you're one day too late, the teens may already be engaging in sexual behaviors that have consequences for them."

"Although adolescents have access to information on sex from a variety of sources, physicians could do more in support of teens' healthy sexual development," said Alexander. "Initiating conversations demonstrates to adolescents that talking about sex is a normal part of a checkup, and may open the door for more extensive discussions."

The findings are published in the journal 'JAMA Pediatrics.'