Mental health articles

Despite a seemingly pervasive sexualized youth subculture (witness MTV),
there actually has been a gradual decrease in adolescent heterosexual intercourse
and pregnancies over the past decade that partly refl ects an increase in
noncoital sexual activities. Th ese days both females (85%) and males (73%) are
more likely to embrace relativistic beliefs that sexual behavior should depend
on the particular partner and the nature of the relationship, including degree
of caring (Knox, Cooper, & Zusman, 2001). Not surprisingly, although neither
sex strongly endorses hedonism (doing whatever feels good as long as it does
not cause harm), males are six times more likely than females to do so.