Subscribe to one of our news e-mail lists . When it comes to sex, many parents feel that they have lost their children to the influence of peers and popular culture.
Teens exert a strong influence over one another, too.
Girls say that pressure is most likely to come from their would-be sexual partners. For boys, the pressure comes from their friends. Friends do make a difference, teens agreed. Some 94 percent of teens said they are influenced at least a little by what other teens think when deciding whether to have sex, with 58 percent saying they are influenced a lot. But the pressure can be different for boys and girls.