Sexual activity among
US teens has seen a significant fall in the last two decades, according to a new
report.
Figures from the
Centre for Disease Control published last month show that, from 1988 to
2006-2010, the percentage of never-married males aged 15-19 who reported ever having sexual intercourse dropped
from 60pc to 42pc.
Among females, the
percentage of those aged 15-19 who said they
had had sexual intercourse fell over
the same time period from 51 percent to 43 percent.
From 2006-2010, of
teenagers whose mother has some college
education or higher, 37 percent of males and 40 percent of females say they have had sexual
intercourse.
Of teenagers who live
with both biological or adoptive parents, 35 percent of males and 35 percent of
females say they have had sexual
intercourse.
The latest data echo
findings from a 2010 study from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and
Unplanned Pregnancy which found that 87 percent of teenagers agreed that “it is
important for teens to be given a strong message that they should not have sex
until they are at least out of high school.”
Here, research
conducted by the ESRI showed that the
average age of first sexual intercourse for teenagers was 17, which corresponds
to the age of consent. Less than one-third of young adult men (18-24 year olds)
and 22 per cent of young women say they had sex before the age of
17.
Launching the
findings in 2009, Professor Hannah McGee of the Royal College of Surgeons said
it was “a myth” that most teenagers were having sexual intercourse at an earlier
age.
The findings were
part of a campaign by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, b4udecide, designed to to
encourage young people to wait longer before having sex.
The research also
showed that nearly a third of teenage girls and eight per cent of boys have come
under pressure to have sex before they are ready and that teenagers who do have
sex early are more likely to become pregnant and to contract a
sexually-transmitted disease.
Apart from
the other dangers linked to early sex, “Young people who had sex at an early age
were also more likely to express regret – to say that they wished they waited
longer,” Prof McGee said.
