Don't take your daughter to Texas... One in ten 11-year-olds has had sex



The maxim says that 'everything is bigger in Texas', and that holds true for the percentage of kids having sex in the Lone Star state.



A recent study shows that the number of kids having sex while they are still in middle school, with one in ten sixth graders having already had sex by the age of 11 or 12 years old.



The numbers jump from there, with 22 per cent of seventh graders having had sex, and increasing by roughly ten per cent every year after that.



Scary trend: More and more Texan teenagers are having sex at a young age, and the state comes in third nationally for the number of teen pregnancies

The study comes from research compiled by the Centers of Disease Control and the University of Texas, and examines the state's sexual standing compared to the national averages.



Texas has historically done poorly when it comes to issues of sexual education and teenage pregnancies: the state has the third highest birth rate in the country- almost double the national average- with 6.31 per cent of girls getting pregnant between the age of 15 and 19, compared to a national average of 3.9 per cent.



The country as a whole isn't doing well either, with the U.S. leading in the rates of sexually transmitted infections among developed countries.



'Texas youth are disproportionately represented in these numbers,' the report reads.



Starting in sixth grade when one in 10 of the young girls and boys having had sex, the number goes up to 22 and then 29 per cent in seventh and eighth grades respectively.



In high school, the percentage starts at 32 in ninth grade when the students are 14 or 15 years old, and goes up by roughly ten per cent each year.



By their last year in high school, 62 per cent of Texas teenagers have had sex.



Starting younger: One in 10 sixth graders in Texas have had sex

The particularly troubling aspect of the study is the lack of sexual education provided throughout Texas. The study tells that along with being more likely to have had sex with four or more partners, Texan middle school and high schoolers are less likely to have used any form of birth control than their national counterparts.



The state's record is being scrutinized, not only by academics involved in the study but politicians and political pundits, as the state's governor Rick Perry is in the midst of his presidential bid.

Mr Perry made an executive order in 2007 forcing all girls entering sixth grade in Texas to be vaccinated for the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), strands of which cause cancer. Makers of the vaccine say it is most effective when a girl is vaccinated before having sex, though the state's social conservatives vocalized their displeasure and the Texas Legislature revoked the motion.

