Good father-daughter relationship can delay sexual activity in teenage girls

A frightening statistic for parents: 80% of American children will have sexual intercourse during their teenage years.

University of Texas researchers have identified a possible delaying influence for sexual activity in teenage girls, that of the quality of the relationship with their father.

“All dads of daughters exhibit some anxiety about the future of their children,” UT associate professor of sociology Mark Regnerus said.

That’s part of the reason five-year-old Libby’s dad doesn’t miss a chance to dance with his daughter.

“I always knew absolutely it’s important to be plugged into your kids’ lives,” Regnerus said.

Mark says it’s good for parents to bond with their kids. It’s kind of weird when you see it in your research paper too,”

See, Libby’s dad and dance partner is also a University of Texas associate professor of sociology.

He and his team researched the relationship between family ties and the onset of sexual activity in teenage girls.

“Not too many people would argue that it’s good when Mom and Dad get married and stay together,” Regnerus said. “But even beyond that we wanted to look inside those families to see what made a difference. In the end it wasn’t the mother child bond, the father son bond. It was the father daughter bond.”

Read the full article: UT Study Of Dad, Daughter Relationships.