Tue, September 13, 2005
"Jefferson High School"—11:04 AM
As is typical with Buzzworthy links, I link first and read later. Earlier today I linked to the study of romantic and sexual relationships in a Midwestern high school, and now that I've read it, I can post my reactions to it and brighten your day.
First of all, I don't think I'd answer any questions about my sexual experience coming from this guy:
Also, I annotated the supporting figure for the story, for no other reason than it's damn fun for me. All in all, it's a fascinating and encouraging study and I'm glad that these kids could feel so open about discussing their romantic histories and it's heartwarming that the researchers found 63 pairs who had not been with anyone but each other. Still, in good fun, some points:
LilSis — Wed, 9/14/05 9:22am
I, too, found this article fascinating. What I find most interesting is that they asked the students to choose sexual partners off a school roster which eliminates anyone who already graduated or goes to a different school or is a teacher or whatever. I can see that this was necessary to keep the model from spinning into infinity but you can also see how this would result in a very small part of the picture because as soon as one kid has sex with one kid from another school you get linked to that schools chain too. I think just by showing students this figure many would think harder about safe sex. I also wonder how much cross checking the researchers did. For instance, Sally says she had sex with Joe but Joe didn't want to admit to having sex with Sally... who's lying?
Bee Boy — Wed, 9/14/05 9:54am
Probably Sally, that swimfan psycho!
I thought about that, too, though. Since only around 80% of the student body participated in the survey, theoretically some of the dots on the chart could be students who didn't answer the survey, but they had sex with people who did.
In terms of evaluating safer sex education and practices, I think adding in other schools' chains would definitely be eye-opening for the students. In terms of a population study, I think studying one population makes the most sense – although it should raise questions about the comparisons with adult communities (who are not all forced into the same buildings with each other nine months out of the year).
I'm also curious where my high school experience is represented on the map (a blue dot all by itself). They found 63 one-blue-one-pink couples, but no loners whatsoever?
LilSis — Wed, 9/14/05 1:04pm
I'm starting to feel like a geek for having this much interest in this, but the way I see it, the figure only represents the 573 sexually active students out of the 800 or so that were interviewed according to the article, so the "loner" dots just aren't put on the figure (though there would have presumably been over 200). However, upon closer examination there are only 570 dots represented on the figure (assuming the large chain is actually 288 as the article states... I decided not to take the time to check that one) which leaves 3 sexually active students unaccounted for. Does this mean they only had sex with people they couldn't pick off the roster? Or are they the "loners" you refer to?
Bee Boy — Wed, 9/14/05 2:09pm
No need to feel geeky – we all have an interest in teenagers having sex, otherwise there wouldn't be an MTV. But I get 285 non-chain dots, which makes 573 if you add in the assumed 288.
I assume you're right about the loners. They just get left off the chart, which comports with the treatment they get from their classmates. They're probably picked last for kickball, too. Losers.