Study finds link between early sex and delinquency

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Teenagers who start having sex significantly earlier than their peers are more likely to commit petty crimes as they get older, according to a U.S. study.

A survey of more than 7,000 youth across the country found that adolescents who had sex about a year or more before the average age had a 20 percent increase in delinquent behavior a year later.

But teenagers who waited longer were only half as likely to act out compared to the average teen.

"It's not that having sex makes you delinquent later, but rather having sex and, specifically having sex earlier than your peers, puts you into this different trajectory of (delinquent) activity," said Stacy Armour, co-author of the study from Ohio State University. READ MORED>