Having sex while in a romantic relationship doesn't generally affect
teens' grades in school, but casual sex might, a new study shows.
"Compared to abstinence, sexual intercourse in committed romantic
relationships is often academically harmless, whereas in other types of
relationships it is more detrimental," noted Bill McCarthy and Eric
Grodsky, sociologists at the University of California, Davis and the
University of Minnesota, respectively. "Females and males who have sex
only with romantic partners are generally similar to abstainers on most
of the education measures we examined."
In their analysis of U.S. national data, the researchers focused on
specific measures of education: school attachment; high school GPA;
college aspiration; college expectations; problems in school; truancy;
and school suspensions/expulsions or dropping out.
Compared to abstainers, teens who only have casual sex are at greater
risk for lower grades and problems in school, and are more likely to be
expelled or suspended, less likely to be attached to school, and less
likely to go to college.
But the school performance of teens who have sex only with romantic partners is not much different from that of abstainers.
The study was to be presented Sunday at the American Sociological Association's annual meeting in Atlanta.
"Collectively, our results find that the detrimental outcomes
commonly attributed to adolescent sexual intercourse occur mostly in
non-romantic contexts," the researchers said in a news release from the
American Sociological Association. "These findings raise doubts about
the veracity of sexual education programs that link adolescent sex to a
plethora of negative outcomes."