Home, but Not Alone

In December 2002, researchers for Pediatrics magazine surveyed teens answering this question: “Where are kids having sex?” Of more than a thousand boys surveyed from six different public schools, 91 percent of those who had intercourse said the last time they had it was in a home setting—either their own home, the girl’s home, or at a friend’s house. And most of the time, these sexual escapades took place after school, before parents came home.

Few commentators are willing to connect the dots between these trends. In her book Home-Alone America, Mary Eberstadt draws what ought to be an obvious conclusion. Leaving children unsupervised increases the likelihood that they will experiment with sexual activity.

Parents who leave their children to themselves, even as they pursue the American dream, may soon find that their teenagers weren’t alone after all.