Did you know April is STD Awareness Month? Well, now you do, so it’s a good time to start talking to your teen or tween about the facts. As Kevin shared earlier this week, a common myth that we all believe when we are young is that what we do as kids won’t impact us as adults, but as Kevin highlighted, whether it’s a tattoo or an STD, the choices we make as youths can stick with our bodies for the rest of our lives.
Please note, however, that as we talk to our kids about sex and STDs, we need to help our kids understand God’s full-bodied, amazing plan and picture for sex in the right context of marriage. Sex outside of marriage can have consequences (like STDs), but God created sex and made sex (as we talked about on Wednesday) divine.
So, here are some startling STD facts from the CDC you can share with your kids, but remember to place these facts within the broader context of what purity really means and why purity is really important (read more about how to do that in our parent resources here).
- Nearly half of all STD cases occur in people between the ages of 15 and 24.
- One in four college students has an STD.
- Only 54% of students regularly use condoms during vaginal intercourse, 29% during anal intercourse and only 4 percent during oral sex.
- 19 million new sexually transmitted infections occur each year.
- 80% of people who have a sexually transmitted disease experience no noticeable symptoms.
- More than half the participants in a study done among college students believed they could tell if someone has an STD just by looking at them.
- In one recent survey, as many as 60% of women reported they are in a committed relationship, while only 38% of men reported the same, possibly suggesting that some women may think their in an exclusive, sexual relationship, when really they aren’t.
Stay tuned for more information on STD’s next week.