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Sexual pleasure is a part of human functioning. Even in early childhood preschoolers and school-aged children may fondle their own genitals for the pleasure of it. And many engage in sex play with others. However, the strength and urgency of the adult sex drive, emerges as a function of puberty, is a new experience to young adolescents.
Adolescents are more sensitive and interested in sexually relevant stimuli than younger children. As we have noted, despite having spent most of childhood spontaneously segregating into single-gender groups, young adolescents begin to seek out opportunities to socialize in mixed-gender groups.
Faced with their increased sexual interest, most adolescents begin to explore their sexuality. The sexual experiences during adolescence are affected by gender and ethnic differences among adolescents. It should be noted that as many as 50 percent of young adolescents also have sexual experiences with members of the same sex, primarily displaying and touching genitals and engaging in mutual masturbation. These activities seem to be partly a function of opportunity, since young adolescents still spend most of their time with same-sex than opposite sex peers.
Clearly, sexual maturation is a key determiner of sexual behavior. But just as clearly, many other factors come into play. Adolescents are often moved to engage in sexual behavior out of curiosity or because of pressure to have sex from partners or peer group (e.g., Atwater, 1996; Rodgers &. Rowe, 1993).
Sexual behaviours in adolescence: they include
- Holding hands, hugging, kissing
- French, deep, or soul kissing (partly opened mouth and use of tongue)
- Fondling of the female's breast
- Fondling of the partner's genitals
- Rubbing one's genitals against partner's genitals
- Sexual intercourse
- Oral-genital sex
- Mastrubatation
The values have more influence on the sexual behavior of early adolescents than of late adolescents. A myriad of other influences, from social class and ethnicity to religious background, geographic setting (urban versus rural), popular culture (as portrayed in movies, music, teen magazines, and Internet sites), and the quality of sex education in schools, play a part in when and whether adolescents become sexually active.
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Participants