Having ex for the first time can be an awkward, intimidating, and overwhelming experience — but hopefully a positive one, too. What is the first time like for guys? Our cultural understanding of "the first time" is extremely gendered and heteronormative; women's first sexual experiences are often thought to be painful, and to create a lifelong obsession and attachment with the person with whom they "lose" their virginity. And, of course, the patriarchy claims that women become damaged goods once it happens. On the other hand, men are often high-fived and considered to have "scored.

There are limited contextual data regarding first sexual experiences of younger adolescent men. Yet these data that are needed to inform STI and early fatherhood prevention efforts, particularly in lower income communities. Using qualitative methods, 14 adolescent men ages 14—16, all low income, most African American from a mid-sized U. Story-telling was encouraged. Descriptions of first sex were identified, and then analysed for narrative structure and shared concepts.

Data were pooled from the to and to continuous survey rounds of the National Survey of Family Growth. JAMA Pediatr. The developmental needs and pathways to healthy trajectories for young males remain unknown. Among NSFG survey respondents, differences in wantedness of first sexual intercourse by age at first sexual intercourse were examined, along with the associations between sexual initiation and socioeconomic covariates. The sample was largely composed of non-Hispanic white males:

Every couple of years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asks middle and high school students to fill out surveys in class for the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. If students are sexually active, it asks for the age of first sexual intercourse, which is an important milestone. From a public health point of view, sexual intercourse initiates young people into certain kinds of risk, notably pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection. In those terms, what is called early sexual initiation — that is, intercourse before the age of 13 — is well-known as a marker for other kinds of risk , in both girls and boys, including binge drinking and having multiple sexual partners. These are associations, not cause-and-effect explanations.