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from Gay Activism in the Schools
Risky Sex and the Adolescent Brain:
Implications for School Counseling Programs
By Linda A. Nicolosi
Recently, neuroscience has begun to give us a
better understanding of the high-risk habits of
teenagers. Adolescents' reckless experimentation
represents more than just a struggle to
individuate, according to the Family Therapy
Networker.
During the teenage years, psychobiologists say,
the brain undergoes a profound remodeling. The
prefrontal neural cortex, which functions as the
brain's command center, loses nearly half of its
neural connections. Subsequently decision-making
"shifts toward brain regions that are governed by
emotional reactivity."
These massive changes, says psychobiologist Linda
Patia Spear in The Networker, predispose
adolescents to take more risks. At the same time
there is a drop in the brain's dopamine level,
which decreases the ability to experience
pleasure. As a result, teens are drawn toward
destructive behaviors such as drinking, taking
drugs and experimenting with risky sex.
Dr. Spear's finding converges with the latest news
from San Francisco, where new HIV infections have
more than doubled in the last three years as
safe-sex practices are being abandoned. "In Los
Angeles and five other cities," says the Los
Angeles Times, "one in ten young gay or bisexual
men is infected" with HIV (2).
Among young gay African-Americans living in large
cities, according to another report, the infection
rate is even more alarming: one man out of every
three is HIV-positive (3).
The Los Angeles County Health Services Department
interviewed 53 HIV-positive gay and bisexual men
and found that half of them, despite their HIV
status, "had sex in public places such as bath
houses or clubs with multiple partners without
informing their partners of their status. Some did
not use condoms." An AIDS Project Los Angeles
survey similarly found that 31% of 113 bisexual
men continued to engage in risky behavior, "even
after being informed of their HIV-positive
status."
In another article, the Times reported that the
rate of rectal gonorrhea among gay and bisexual
men in San Francisco rose 44% during a recent
three-year period, while in Los Angeles, new
syphilis cases among gay and bisexual men rose
more than 1,680% (4).
San Francisco is considered to be a "bellweather
for sexual activity among gay men" around the
nation, predictive of trends nationwide.
NARTH's Joseph Nicolosi commented on the latest
findings. "These two news items have particular
significance," he said. "We now have evidence that
the adolescent brain leads teenagers into
high-risk behavior, and that young gays are
increasingly engaging in unsafe sex.
"Taking both findings together, it would seem that
educators should seriously reconsider the wisdom
of introducing sexually questioning teenagers into
the gay community through school-based programs.
"Schools work hard to keep underage students from
obtaining cigarettes and alcohol. They should also
understand the wisdom of postponing the
adolescent's exposure to a very, very high-risk
lifestyle."
(1) "The Adolescent Brain: A Perilous Renovation,"
Family Therapy Networker, January/February 2001,
p. 15.
(2) "L.A. Studies Show Increase in Risky Sex by
Gay Men," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 17, 2001, p. 11.
(3) "Young Gay Black Men Suffer High HIV Rates,"
Associated Press, Feb. 6, 2001.
(4) "HIV Rate Rising Among Gay Men in San
Francisco," Los Angeles Times, Jan. 25, 2001, p.
A3.
Updated: 8 February 2008
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