What (parents) do and say matters a lot when it comes to teens' decisions about sex. It's not just peers and popular culture that are steering the ship.

For parents, I think these data show that conversations about sex need to be both broader and more specific. For healthcare providers, the implication is that we have to do a better job in getting messages to teens about the potential health risks of oral sex.

Parents ought not be afraid to talk to their children early and often about sex, love and relationships, and to be as specific as they are comfortable being.

Parents have to be clear about their own sexual attitudes.

The general sense is that, among teens, there is a greater comfort level with not having sex. That is something fundamentally different than existed 15 years ago.

If they want their teens to abstain from sex, they need to say exactly what they want their kids to abstain from.