Doctors, teens avoid sex talk
HEALTH • More doctors should be having “the talk” with their teenage patients.
That’s the conclusion of a study by researchers at Duke Medicine in Durham, N.C. Published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, the study found that less than twothirds of doctors and teenage patients talk about sex, sexuality or dating during annual physicals. Conversations typically last less than 60 seconds, and teen girls were more than twice as likely to spend more time talking with doctors about sex than male teens.
“It’s hard for physicians to treat adolescents and help them make healthy choices about sex if they don’t have these conversations,” said lead author Stewart Alexander in a news release. “For teens who are trying to understand sex and sexuality, not talking about sex could have huge implications.” The study also revealed that older teens were more likely to discuss sex with their physicians than younger teens.