How often do teens think that they are in love? 

How likely are teens to have sex in they think that they are in love?

---

Request for Question Clarification by actualwolf-ga on 20 Sep 2002 16:48 PDT

In general?  Or just in one country (the United States)?  

By "teen" you mean age 13 to 19?  

Are you specifically concerned with sex outside of marriage or would
married teens count?

The title of your question is "Teen Pregnancy & Sexual Activity".  Are
you only concerned with resulting in pregnancy?

---

Clarification of Question by dandi-ga on 23 Sep 2002 06:53 PDT

I'm specifically concerned with the amount of teens (%) that have sex
becauses they think they are in love. I'm only concerned with the
United States and I'm only concerned with teenagers that are not
married. Teenagers could range from 12-19. I need to find the fact and
the source for the fact. If a fact doesn't exist about sex and love,
than I'm interested in a fact that shows what percentage of teens
think they are in love.

I suspect there is no way to really "answer" this question. Drawing on
my past experience as a teenager (I once was one) and my experience
with teenagers, I think most of them consider themselves "in love" at
some point in the ages 12-19. Many of them would no doubt look back
and describe their "love" as infatuation or a strong crush or a
fixation - but that's hindsight.
How many of them have a sexual relationship with the object of their
love, because they are "in love," depends upon era (are we talking
contemporaneous or historically?) and upon community standards - how
acceptable is it to be sexually active and how great is the penalty if
the teen is caught? - and the willingness of the teenager to risk
perceived penalties.