This isn't a new problem, though it is a chronic one that ebbs and flows. One thing I noticed is conspicuously absent: how many of these girls are being raised in single-mom households -- in other words, without a dad living at home and thereby involved in her day-to-day life?
Among many culprits for promiscuity, can lack of dads be one? Without a dad around, a little girl is less likely to enjoy a comfortably affectionate relationship with him, the main man in her life. She gets older, has no experience, is already insecure with regard to male affection.
I'll bet that a pretty high percentage of these girls have pretty unstable daughter-father relationships.
The really sad part is that half the time or more, it isn't that dad dropped the family, it's that mom dropped the dad and is getting enough of a portion of his income to reduce him to poverty. He must work twice as hard to be a "good dad" if only because he has to do it by remote -- he's not a resident dad, most of the time by order of the resident mom. The truth is that women instigate the vast majority of divorces.
Yet in our society, dads get all the blame and single moms are saluted. Promiscuity, gangs, and teen suicides are some of the fruits of enabling a single-mom society. I know lots of people can't handle acknowleding it, but it's true nontheless.
I'm going to get flamed I know. Oh well.
For the record, I'm on your side. I don't know when it happened, but somewhere along the line, father's became optional! My husband always knew that he was the first man our daughter ever loved. And she knew she wanted someone like him.
Three weeks ago, she married a man who is very like her father. And he was smart enough to understand that was a good thing.
I think the article actually has it right: peer pressure. Read up on peer influence (which includes media) and see what I mean. Peer-influenced kids will ignore their parents and other responsible adults in favor of their friends.
The girls who tend to get in these situations are strongly peer-influenced to drink, maybe do drugs, have boyfriends, wear trendy clothes, and they are in well over their heads.