New Alarming Study: 1 in 4 Teen Girls Becoming Infected with STDs

Teens will be teens? True. But, not all teen behavior is worth the risk and for teen girls sexual behavior is right at the top for impulsive actions that can have long lasting and dire consequences. A new study by the CDC is very alarming: 1 in 4 teen girls are getting STDs, with HPV and chlamydia key players, according to WebMD.

Short term, the treatment and embarrassment of STDs is not fun. Long term, infertility and issues with spreading some of these STDs to future babies or partners, such as HPV, is a real concern. Plus, HPV causes genital warts and cervical cancers - two other problems no girl or woman wants to tackle.

For these reasons, teens need to have better programs to understand the risks and have better ways to protect themselves. Studies have been clear that abstinence only programs do not work. Parents, you have to start embracing that and recognize that the power of the hormones is huge in kids.

What can you do? A great deal. A new study this month released in Pediatrics has shown what I've been saying for a very long while - that short talks over time benefit kids more than one huge talk. This strategy also allows you to build a bridge to your teen so you can understand your teen better and hopefully help your teen do better with problem solving and avoidance of sticky situations that lead to problems, such as the procurement of STDs. And, that same bridge will let your teen know you are available and able to talk about these issues should something occur. That, to me is the biggest value of a parent learning to talk to teens about tough topics. And, let's face it, sex and sexuality are at the top of that pack!

So, parents, build that bridge! If we all do this with our teen girls, perhaps this 1 in 4 number will dramatically decrease - and soon. The other action item to tackle is vaccinating our tween and teen girls against HPV. Now that we know our girls are going to do dumb things, we have to keep them safe. It really is that simple. After all, teens will be teens - and until we can get that bridge more secure we have to protect them against themselves until they know better which will take more years than their bodies have.