Am I just dim?
When I read the headline “Depression Linked to Risky Teen Sex,” I assumed the story would be about how risky teen sex could lead to depression. In fact, the study shows the opposite: that teenagers with depression are more likely to engage in risky sex. I think it should read “Risky Teen Sex a Result of Depression?” The question mark suggests the study isn’t definitive, but it gets the gist across more accurately. I do wish these headline writers could be a little more precise, if only so that people who just skim them could get a better sense of what’s going on.
The study, just published in the journal Pediatrics, was of teens in 1995 and ’96. That suggests to me that the author of the study spent a long, long time revising the article for inclusion. Are patterns of risky behavior the same 10 years later? I’m not so sure.
Risky Teens. Depression. Discuss.
liz | 1:10 PM | Uncategorized
It’s strange how this blog of “Family Scholars” [ http://familyscholars.org/?p=5928 ]interprets the results of the same study and reaches a conclusion that is the complete opposite, i.e. unsafe teen sex could lead to depression. Either they are wrong or the UCSF news article got it wrong. So who is going to read the actual study [ http://www.cpc.unc.edu/uploads/4823/1764/which_first_final.pdf ] and let us know?
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