Lesbian teens more likely to get pregnant

[xoder]

So sayeth: http://www.pinke.biz/news/518/Lesbian-Teens-More-Likely-to-get-Pregnant-than-Straight-Teens/

The obvious problem here that I see is that they do not appear to have controlled for sexually active teens or not. The study itself may have, but this article does not mention it. I would not be surprised to find out (although I have no evidence one way or the other) that many GBLT folks start having sex earlier than their straight brethren.

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Now, however, I feel that I may be stating assumptions not in evidence and falling for the classic "teh gheyz are horny" stereotype.

Comments

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

It could also be that gay teens who engage in sex are more likely to be out - or vice versa.

Do they control for sexual abuse and rape? I'm under the impression that gay teens are more likely to be the victims of either.

Yah, sorta..

[(Anonymous)]

There is a lot of difficulty 'controlling' for sexual abuse and rape. These surveys are conducted in high schools, and getting particularly detailed in the questions becomes counter-productive. (If you list off every specific drug - including drugs that don't actually exist - you'll get a whole bunch of people who mark all of them.)

In this particular study they examined kids who identified as queer in total, as well as separated out by sexual abuse, violence experience, harassment experience, and a variety of other fine granularity variables. Some generalities can be made - yes, queer kids appear to report victimization out of proportion - but you can't make a lot of specific statements - no, you can't say sexual abuse *causes* pregnancy, just that adolescent pregnancy is *correlated* with sexual abuse (and other things.) The real big message is - stigma is bad for *all* teens, and we must do more to alleviate or eliminate its effects.