New research suggests that when teenagers and younger children engage in their first sexual intercourse far earlier than their peers that they will exhibit higher levels of delinquency in the subsequent years. Conversely, the same work found that those who first engage in sex much later than their peers have a significantly lower delinquency rate. However, Stacy Armour, the co-author of the study, is careful to point out the fact that they are "not finding that sex itself leads to delinquency, but instead, that beginning sexual relationships long before your friends is cause for concern."

These findings appear in February's edition of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. According to Dana Haynie, the professor who oversaw the study, what is important to take away from this is the importance of acting within the normal social bounds set by your age group. She says that "those who start having sex too young may not be prepared to deal with the potential emotional, social and behavioral consequences of their actions." This is something I am sure most parents and rational adults understand.

Many of you may be asking: what defines "normal" in this context? Different geographical areas can have different social standards; to address this, the researchers used data taken from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. This study contained data on more than 7,000 students in grades 7 through 12, who attended 132 different high schools along with their "feeder" middle schools. These students were interviewed first in 1994-1995, again a year later, and a final time six years later in 2002. At each stage, the person was asked if they had engaged in their first sexual intercourse by that time. From the collection of data an average first age at which intercourse occurred at each school was computed and used as the norm for that group of students. This way, students were compared to their close peers, not a national average - which could easily produce results that relied on too many other factors.

The average age of first sexual intercourse for each school ranged from 11.25 to 17.5 years old. Those students who first engaged in sexual intercourse more than approximately one year before this average were deemed early. The survey also included questions about delinquent acts that students had participated in during the past as well. It was found that the students who first engaged in sex between the first and second survey had participated in a delinquent act 58 percent more often than those who remained virgins. The increases were even more pronounced for those who had sex early, relative to their peers. It was found that these delinquent tendencies lasted well into early adulthood. When the same group participated in the final of the three surveys in 2002 the results still showed a correlation between early sexual activity and delinquency. This data also shows the converse to be true, that those who waited longer before first intercourse exhibited lower levels of delinquency.

The study did take into account a variety of factors that could contribute to when a teen feels it is appropriate to first have sex, such as: race, family structure, socioeconomic status, school performance, depression, and how close the teens felt to their parents, among others. However, in the end it did rely on self-reporting of teenagers - who may not have told the entire truth - however, there is no way (to this author's knowledge) to correct for this potential effect. Teenagers may have hid both the fact that they had engaged in intercourse, along with any delinquent behavior, however the anonymity provided by the study would most likely minimize this effect. In the end "sex itself is not always a problem behavior, but the timing of sexual initiation does matter. Adolescents need to be at a stage when they are developmentally prepared for it." said Armour.