Adolescents, relationships and multi-person sex: REACH live on Radio Boston

Whether the focus is driving, academic schedules or dating partners, most parents worry about whether their children are making responsible decisions. When the focus is relationships even more factors come under scrutiny- boundaries about parties, curfews and intimacy. The conversations we have with our kids are difficult and often fraught with awkward silences and incomplete sentences. "Mom. Do you have to...?" "Dad?!" But, as responsible adults we take on those conversations: the driving talk, the drinking talk, the sex talk.

This last conversation is perhaps one of the most tenuous conversations a parent can have; parents and teens often report feeling embarassed when having to talk about intimacy. However, sharing specific information about personal boundaries, risky behavior and safety plans in regard to sex are important for our kids' health and safety - especially as we consider this new study from Boston University School of Public Health.

Recent research finds that about 7% of girls and young women have engaged in group sex- often against their will. Listen as the study's author, Dr. Emily Rothman and REACH's Director of Prevention and Education programs comment on the research findings and the implications for youth, parents and communities.