Fact about teenage girls...

Fully 41 percent of teenage girls ages 14 to 17 who have sex say they are pressured into it by their boyfriends and not because they willingly choose to do so, according to researchers at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis.

The result? These girls have a far higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, reports Reuters Health of the survey of 279 teen girls.

The researchers interviewed each participant and many of them admitted they had given in to unwanted sex to keep their boyfriends from getting angry. That indicates that both boys and girls need counseling in negotiating their relationships. "We need to give guidance to teens on how to communicate with each other," lead study author Dr. Margaret J. Blythe told Reuters Health. Girls need to be taught how to take control over their own sexual activity, while boys need to learn what constitutes pressure. The importance of educating boys, she told Reuters Health, "is often the untalked-about part."

This two-year study focused on 279 girls ages 14 to 17 who were seen at urban health clinics in Indianapolis. They were periodically interviewed about their current relationships, including instances of unwanted sex.

Some of the questions they were asked included:

• "Would he break up with you unless you had sex?"
  
• "Would he get mad if you didn't want to have sex?"

The disturbing findings:

• 41 percent admitted they had participated in unwanted sex at least once.
  
• The most common reason for having unwanted sex was fear their boyfriend would become angry.
  
• 10 percent said their partner forced them to have sex.
  
• 5 percent said they had sex after being offered money or gifts.
  
• Girls who had unwanted sex were less likely to use condoms, had poorer relationships and a higher pregnancy rate than girls who had sex willingly.

Important note: Since most of the girls in this study were black and from lower-income households, it is not clear if the findings are representative of the general population; however, Blythe says the results are in line with previous research.

The findings were published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2006.