Wow, this is a difficult question, because there are so many different answers. First, remember that as people grow older, they often have the desire to produce offspring, meaning babies. For some people this increases their desire to have sex. As adults, people are (usually) more responsible and can afford to have babies. However, the desire to have babies (or at least to engage in sexual activity) usually begins at a much younger age. In some societies, women get married when they are very young, and have babies when they are very young. In some cultures, this works out fine. Here in The U.S., however, young women usually do not have the resources or experience to have children, but the desire to engage in sex is usually still there. That is a biological phenomenon, and does not change with differing cultures.

Hi Miriam
I don't think there is a single answer to your question. On a biological level, teenagers are at a stage of development where tremendous hormonal changes are occurring. These changes are necessary in order to reach adulthood, which in many ways, can be defined as a stage of sexual maturity (i.e. ready and able to reproduce). Again, from a purely biological point of view, the desire to engage in sexual activity is a natural desire that goes along with becoming sexually mature. It is how all animals perpetuate their species. But of course, human beings have extraordinarily complex social dimensions as well as self awareness, so these "human" attributes throw a bit of a twist into explaining sexual activities. Wanting to engage in a sexual activity is a natural urge and in many cases, it really boils down to curiosity. But as human beings, the ability to make choices is one of our greatest assets and evolutionarily speaking, the "advantage" goes to the people who are able to deal with the possible outcome of the sexual activity (a baby). Teenagers sometimes get into situations where the consequence is a life changing, "forever" kind of thing.Unfortunately, the logical, common sense, decision-making process is often cast aside as the sexual maturation process is occurring. Body/hormones win out over brain. Statistically speaking, the answer to your question is: (1) curiosity/need to fulfill sexual appetite; (2) feeling that sexual activity will fill a void in the person's life; (3) wanting to have a baby. For #1
and #2, this is often coupled with a lack of awareness about the biological facts in regard to "how babies are conceived." And as you can guess, #2 and #3 are complex, social-psychological aspects of teenage sexual relationships. You can get lots of information on statistics of teenage sexual relationships by visiting various websites, including the Population Council's website, the World Health Organization, and the National Institutes of Health. These are nonpolitical, non-religious affiliation
organizations.

Hello Miriam, there are a lot of answers to this, so let me answer in a few ways: 1) Many teenagers start experiencing a lot of really confusing emotions that have a lot to do with how their bodies are changing into adults. Sometimes teenagers don't know that having sex can make you pregnant, so they get pregnant. 2) There is a lot of pressure to have sex these days. Teenage boys think about sex on the average several hundred times a day in some way or another. Sometimes teenage boys expect girls to have sex with them because of what they've seen on TV or in movies or for some other reason. Girls sometimes don't know that it IS ok to not have sex. Sometimes the disdain or anger that a boy may show at a girl's resistance to the idea is in fact, not anger towards her, but frustration at realizing he's not going to have sex. But that's his burden to bear, and if he's a mature boy, he should be able to deal with that. 3) another reason for this is that perhaps, teenage pregnancy is considered fairly normal, and because that girl has seen friends, relatives and perhaps even her mother get pregnant early-on, it doesn't seem like such a big deal. 4) experimentation: when you arrive at 13, you start realizing your body can be sexual, so you wonder how can that be? And some pregnancies start this way.

I guess there is no one answer but my advice to you would be to be careful, there's never any harm in waiting. Boys who can't handle waiting aren't worth your time anyway. Don't let society tell you what's normal and what's not, think about what you want out of your future and out of yourself and how a baby fits into that. A baby's a big responsibility and a lot of teenagers don't consider a baby to be a direct result of sexual activity. I hope that helps.

Jennifer.