Reflection

As a researcher, I have learned that teens do not know how to think  for themselves but they want to be treated as an adult.I see why they say that adults do not understand them because teens want to be treated like adults but if a teen can not even think for themselves then that is a recipe for destruction. The most difficult part of my research was reading how teens actually think or let others think for them. I am a teen my self and the main reason for me choosing this topic was to figure out why teens decide to do these things. I personally have a brain of my own and I can truely say that I do not care what any body else thinks about me or the decisions that I make. I some times am called childish or lame because I do not focus on having a boy friend/ girl friend relationship with any one. At my age I do not think it is important because you loose focus on your goals and you end up doing things you regret. I have listened to people my age and they are always in denile about their life. For example, they go out and have sex and then the person that they were suppose to be in love with is "on to the next one", and they are all heart broken. They want somebody to feel sorry for them and to tell them its okay, but its not okay. I am not the most sensitive person in the world so I try to help but I end up telling them the truth. They want to say that they have not been distracted and have not fallen off track but if your grades are slipping and you are coming to school late and sneaking off then you have fallen off track and you need to realize that. If you do not realize that then you continue to make that same choice and it gets worse. As I continue my research on this topic I will add new questions to put my project in more depth.

Recommendations

Further Research

1. To follow up this research there needs to be several more research questions asked and more surveying and maybe even an informational session where teens are asked questions. The question of whether teens know how to think for themselves should be asked. also the questions of what contribute to a teen listening to others and letting other people decide their futures and what they should do. these questions should be asked to those of different social groups and ethnicities and students who go to schools that are majority populated by one race. 

Social Change

1. Based on my research, there should be changes that are taken. Parents should instill and feeling of individuality in there children and a feeling that they can think for their own and should not let other students influence them so much that they re going out and having sex just to feel welcomed. Teenagers these days are always saying that they are being treated like children and adults do not understand them, based on what i learned from my information and how teens actually think. They do not deserve the privileges that adults have because they would not know how to handle the responsibility that comes along with those privileges. 

The Conclusion

The survey data presented from the two graphs below shows that teens do things based on what other teens think. You can see this because 44% out of 118 teens think that peer pressure is a huge influence when others are deciding to have sex. From my other graph it shows that 42% of teens say that teens are ready to have sex when ever they think they are ready. This data is some what contradicting because how do teens know when they are ready to have sex when they are basing their decision off of what other teens think?

The research I obtained from my published  source gave me information that was different than my survey data. I personally am not sure where the source got their information from or who they surveyed but the two informations do not match up.

What you should take away from my survey data is that a majority of teens do not know how to think for themselves. They make decisions based on what other teens think and once those teens decide it is time for that individual to have sex then its time for them to have sex.

Survey Data: Part two

This data chart shows the number of teens out of 118, who think they know how much peer pressure has on a teens decision to have sex.

The people who took my survey were 40.68% male and 59.32%  female. They were also 39.83% black, 45.76% white, 1.69% asian, 1.69% hispanic, 7.63 % mixed nationalities, and 3.39% other. As you can see from the graph to the left, 44% which is the majority of people say that peers have a great deal of influence on whether teens have sex. 34% say that teens have some influence. 14% say that teens have a little influence. And lastly 8%percent say that teens have no influence on whether teens decide to have sex.

Survey Data: Part one

This Data chart shows the number of teens out of 118, who think they know what age teens should start having sex.

The people who took my survey were 40.68% male and 59.32%  female. They were also 39.83% black, 45.76% white, 1.69% asian, 1.69% hispanic, 7.63 % mixed nationalities, and 3.39% other. as you can see from the graph to the left, the majority of people think that teens should have sex whenever they think the are ready, there was a tied decision in whether teens think they should not have sex or between the ages of 15-16. then 15% thought teens should have sex between the ages of 17 and 19. and lastly at 5% of teens thought it was okay for teens to have sex between the ages of 13 and 14.

Research: Sources on SEX!!!

My first source: Teens And Sex

Sex and Peer Pressure- 75% of teens think other teens are having sex but just 40% of them say they have had sexual intercourse. Many teens today assume that others are having sex because of how they look or how they act.the truth is that most teens do not start having sexual intercourse until the age of 16 or 17.
19% of males and 9% of females say that they are having sex based on pressure from other peers or friends. they feel the pressure to have sex to fit in or be accepted by the more popular social groups of todays society. They state that sexual feelings starts a an early age. Pre-teens at the age of 10 or 11 are going on mini dates by the 5th grade. By the seventh grade these mini date graduate to having sex.

Contemporary Issues Companion."Teens and Sex".Greenhaven Press, Inc:,San diego. 2002 Print.

What am i trying to find out? (research question)

Question: Why do teens choose to do drugs and have sex even though they know the consequences?

In this blog I am trying to figure out why teens make the decisions they make about having sex and doing drugs.
I am looking to understand how they think and what kind of logic they use when they are making decisions.