To the Editor:

As a physician engaged in a busy child and adolescent psychiatry practice, I couldn’t disagree more with the conclusions made by Amy Schalet in “The Sleepover Question” (Sunday Review, July 24).

Most teenagers do not have a way of fully understanding in advance the intensity of emotions they are likely to experience the first time they engage in a sexual relationship. Their capacity for managing emotions and making good judgments continues to develop into young adulthood.

Clinically, I see far too many teenagers with symptoms of anxiety or depression, problems with substance abuse or self-injurious behavior because they were not yet mature enough for sex.

“Accepting attitudes” about sexual behavior under the family’s roof may reduce conflict between parents and their teenagers, but at what cost to the emotional well-being of our kids?