Final answer:
The National Survey of Family Growth found a growing acceptance among American teenagers for non-marital childbearing, yet most still desire monogamous long-term relationships. Americans largely prefer sex education that emphasizes safer sexual practices over abstinence-only education and U.S. attitudes towards sex are more conservative compared to other industrialized nations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The United States displays a variety of attitudes towards sex and sexuality among its youth. According to the National Survey of Family Growth (2013), there's a growing acceptance among teenagers for non-marital childbearing, with 70 percent of boys and 78 percent of girls aged 15 to 19 agreeing that 'it's okay for an unmarried female to have a child.' Yet, this acceptance doesn't signify a rejection of monogamous relationships. A different study highlighted that nearly all college men (98.9 percent) and women (99.2 percent) still express the desire to find one mutually exclusive sexual partner within the next five years (Pedersen et al. 2002).
When it comes to sex education, a significant majority of Americans (67 percent) prefer education that includes safer sexual practices rather than abstinence-only approaches (Davis 2018). This preference also relates to the reduction of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancies. Nevertheless, the implementation of comprehensive sex education in U.S. schools varies, and it is not part of the mandatory curriculum nationwide (Janfaza 2020).
Comparing the U.S. with other industrialized nations reveals that American attitudes towards sex are more conservative. The U.S. has higher disapproval ratings for premarital sex, sex before the age of 16, extramarital sex, and homosexuality than the averages found in a survey of 24 countries. This conservatism is particularly pronounced in attitudes towards women and sexuality, often under the false belief that men are innately more sexual than women (Widmer, Treas, and Newcomb 1998).