The number of sexually-active teenagers in the US is at its lowest point in a quarter of a century, and less than half as many 15- to 19-year-olds are having intercourse compared with those living during the 1980s, according to a new National Center for Health Statistics report.

According to CNN and AFP reports, the study found that 44 percent of female teenagers and 47 percent of males had engaged in sexual intercourse in 2011 through 2013. That marked a decline of 14 percent for females and 22 percent for males over the past 25 years, the NCHS said.

In comparison, 60 percent of teenage boys and 51 percent of teenage girls were sexually active in 1988. Forty-four percent of female teens were sexually active in 2006-2010, and in teenage boys, 46 percent reported having had intercourse at least once during the agency’s 2002 study.

The findings are based on the National Survey of Family Growth, which was conducted between 1988 and 2013, and which investigated nationwide estimates of sexual activity, contraceptive use and childbearing amongst 2,225 American teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19.

First-time contraception use linked to decreased likelihood of teenage childbirth

The NCHS study found that there was little change in the rates of contraceptive use since 2002. The agency reported that in 202, 94 percent of female teens had used a condom at least once. In the latest study, that number increased slightly, to 97 percent. Nearly all males (99 percent) said that they used a method of contraception during their first sexual encounter.

During the early teen years (ages 15 and 16), males were more likely to have had sexual relations than females, but the probabilities among the genders were nearly equal by age 17. Among boys, 18 percent reported having had sex by age 15, 44 percent by age 17 and 69 percent by age 19. In girls, 13 percent had sex by age 15, 43 percent by age 17 and 68 percent by age 19.

NCHS statistician Gladys M. Martinez, one of the study’s authors, told CNN that the study also found that teens that waited until at least age 18 to have sex were more likely than younger teens to use contraceptives, likely because they were more educated about sex and pregnancy. Females that did not use contraceptives the first time they had sex were also found to be between two and five times more likely to have a baby before reaching the age of 20.

“Female teenagers who used a method of contraception at first sexual intercourse were less likely to have had a birth in their teen years than those who did not,” the report noted. “Understanding these patterns and trends in sexual activity, contraceptive use, and their impact on teen pregnancy can help provide context regarding the recent decline in the US teen birth rate.”

—–

Image Credit: Thinkstock

Comments

comments