Many American teens are losing their virginity before they are old enough to legally drive, according to a survey produced by The New York Academy of Medicine.

The survey of more than 2,300 Baltimore youths found that four in 10 teens had experienced sexual intercourse by age 14. One in eight said they had sex before age 13. Many had also participated in other forms of sexual activity.

Dr. Danielle Ompad, author of the survey, said the findings are cause for concern for even greater increases in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases among teens. While the survey was limited to only the city of Baltimore, Dr. Ompad said, "I don't think other cities would be too different."

Judy Kuriansky, author of Generation Sex, described the results as disturbing though not surprising. She stated that age 14 is far too young to have sex. "They're not emotionally capable of dealing with this," she said. She blamed the prevalence of youth sexual activity on mass media's obsession with sex and the growing number of sexually explicit Internet chat rooms popular with teens.

These shocking findings illustrate the enormous pressures exerted on teens by media, peers and society in general. Parents, if you don't know what your teens are up to, you had better educate yourself. Otherwise you and they are being set up for major heartbreak or worse. (Source: New York Daily News.)