Teens today are having less sex than their parents were at the same age, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



CDC data released Wednesday show dramatic decreases in teen sexual activity since 1988, when the rate was 22 percent higher among males and 14 percent higher among females. Compiled as part of the National Survey of Family Growth, the report says that rates of sexual activity among teens from 2002 to 2013 averaged 45 percent.



Percentage of teens who have had sex at least once Courtesy CDC/NCHS









Laura Lindberg, principal research scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive health research group, attributed the drop in teen sexual activity to widespread sex education that occurred after the HIV/AIDS epidemic. "Our nation's conversation about sex really started changing," she says.

But Valerie Huber, president and CEO of the National Abstinence Education Association, says that conversation has not gone far enough. She says too much attention has been paid to contraception and pregnancy at the expense of talking about abstinence, a phenomenon she believes normalizes teen sex. She called the focus on pregnancy prevention narrow and simplistic and pointed to research published by the nonprofit research center Child Trends that showed sexually active teens are more likely to struggle with substance abuse, depression and lower levels of educational attainment.

"We know that the longer teens delay sex, the less likely they are to have any of the negative consequences of teen sex, as illustrated by the social science research: fewer lifetime sexual partners, less likelihood of acquiring an STD, more likely to use contraception if they do become sexually active and better relationship quality in the future, including more stable and committed marriage," she says. "Avoiding pregnancy, alone, does little to assure that teens are thriving."

Lindberg defended the public-health approach to teen sexual activity and birth control, saying the data show that most teens – two-thirds – have sex by the time they are 19.

"The policy is for teens to make developmentally appropriate decisions," she says.

In the early teen years, males were more likely than females to have had sex, but the gap narrowed to barely any difference as teens got older.



Male and female teens have had sex at about the same rates by the time they are 19. Courtesy CDC/NCHS

The data also contained statistics about contraceptive use among teens. By 2013, 79 percent of female teens used some type of birth control the first time they had sex, while 84 percent of male teens used a birth control method – most often a condom – the first time they had sex. The percentages have not changed in recent years.

Though condoms are the most effective methods for preventing against sexually transmitted diseases, they carry the highest rate of pregnancy risk, at 18 percent. Experts say condoms are likely the most used form of birth control because they can be bought over the counter, unlike most other forms of birth control, which require a doctor's prescription.

Condoms are the most common type of birth control Courtesy CDC/NCHS

One of the most significant changes in birth control methods was in the use of emergency contraception, known as "Plan B" or the "morning-after pill," which totaled 8 percent in 2002 and climbed to 22 percent by 2013. This increase happened despite the fact that it was not available for purchase over the counter – nor to teens under age 17 – until 2013.

The data found teens were also more likely to use some form of birth control as they got older. Almost all male teens (99 percent) who had sex for the first time at 18 or 19 used a method of contraception, compared with those who were 17 and under (82 percent).

Under President Barack Obama's health care law, the Affordable Care Act, health insurance companies cover all types of birth control methods without any cost to women. Teens, however, may have more difficulty getting access because they may struggle with discussing sexual health with their parents or with seeing a doctor on their own. In addition, it is difficult to assess the impact that the law had on birth rates because it didn't go into effect until 2011.



The CDC report indicated that in the 2011 to 2013 time range few teens used an intrauterine device, or IUD, which doctors can implant into a woman's uterus to prevent pregnancy for years at a time. The CDC considers IUDs and implants, which are inserted into a woman's arm and provide another form of long-acting reversible contraception, to be the most effective form of birth control because they carry a less than 1 percent chance of getting pregnant. The devices, which do not prevent against sexually transmitted diseases, are also recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Lindberg says she thinks that there is reason to believe teen pregnancy and birth rate will continue to decline if teens begin to use more effective contraception.