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2 Local Professors' Research Finds Teens Having "Sex Parties" Is Mostly Just An Urban Legend

By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's a sign of the times, stories of sexual misbehavior by seemingly a whole generation of young people. The good news is, say two local researchers, that it's largely not true.

Professors Kathleen Bogle of LaSalle and Joel Best of Delaware first tracked the spread of what amount to urban legends of sex bracelet and rainbow parties, too raunchy to go any further here.

While Professor Bogle says they can't prove these things never happened anywhere, they aren't happening much. And many measures of teen sexual behavior may not be what you think.

"All of those things are trending in a more conservative direction, so at the very time we're saying kids are worse than ever, kids are going wild, we have to look out for our teens, the actual data shows (sic) the opposite to be true."

However, this picture is complicated by sexting which Professor Bogle says is happening.

She and Best collect their findings in the book Kids Gone Wild: From Rainbow Parties to Sexting, Understanding the Hype Over Teen Sex, a dose of reality both for parents and policy-makers.

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