Teen Sex Survey
 

It got a lot of attention and generated a lot of chatter on the talk shows but in the end will it make any difference?

PEOPLE Magazine and NBC News commissioned an unprecedented national poll of 1,000 teens between the ages of 13 and 16. Using scientific methods, the survey provides some of the first real numbers on the sexual attitudes and behaviors of young teens.

Unfortunately, it's not the first study in recent years that shows increased sexual activity among the youngest teens.

And when you think about it why should we be surprised in a society that celebrates sex in TV, movies and fashion like never before? But the most important message out of this latest study of teenage sex is the difference between what the kids say they say and do and what the parents say they say and do.

In this survey, 85 percent of the parents surveyed for the poll say they speak to their children often about sex and relationships. But only 44 percent of their teens say they have those same conversations.

So who's telling the truth?

And while nearly 30 percent of young teens say they have been with someone in an intimate or sexual way only half of the parents of those teens think their kids have done anything more than kiss.

In other words, it appears some parents don't have a clue or maybe it's easier to pretend they don't.

Let's face it. It's not easy being a parent. It%u2019s not always easy setting boundaries and enforcing them. But as one young teen in the survey said Parents don't know it, but I think they do have a lot more influence on us than anything else.

Are you listening, mom and dad? :disgust