New federal data show that fewer teens are having sex, but those who do are using contraception more often to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
The data, published Thursday, are part of the National Survey of Family Growth, and were collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The study’s goal was to examine the risk of pregnancy among teenagers. Focusing on heterosexual intercourse, researchers interviewed more than 4,000 male and female teenagers between 15 and 19 years old. The data were collected between 2011 and 2015.
The researchers note in the study that much of the data has remained stable over the past 10 years in terms of number of teens who report having sex, and that there have been slight increases in the percentage of teens using contraception.
“It didn’t increase, which is good,” study author Joyce Abma said about the number of teens having sex, “but the decline didn’t continue as much as it had in the past.”
The data included the number of male and female teenagers reporting having ever had sex, reported use of contraception and preferred methods and reasons given for those who are not sexually active.
The study found that 44 percent of males and 42 percent of females between 15 and 19 reported ever having sex — a decline from 1988, when 60 percent of males and 51 percent of females reported ever having sex.
For nonsexually active males and females, the No. 1 reason to delay having sex was because it is against “religion or morals.” For those who did have sex, the majority responded that it was with someone with whom they were “going steady” (74 percent for female teens and 51 percent for males).
Ms. Abma expressed some surprise that males and females shared similar outlooks on a variety of questions.
“I think the fact that similar percentages have ever had sex is interesting. Anecdotally, you might think that males would be more sexually experienced, but we don’t see that in the data,” she said.
“So it’s interesting how males and females — you might think they have different reasons for delaying sexual activity or not getting involved yet — but they seem to be on the same wavelength in that regard.”
The survey asked how teens felt about unplanned pregnancies and how that affected their contraceptive use. Researchers found that the overwhelming majority of male and female teenagers who responded that they would be “very displeased” if a pregnancy were to occur also reported high use of contraception methods.
“For females who would be very upset or a little upset if they became pregnant, only 4 percent did not use a method the last time they had sex. Another way of saying that is 95 percent used a method,” Ms. Abma said, adding that even those who would be happy with a pregnancy still were using contraception. “For female teens who said they’d be a little pleased or very pleased … 84 percent used [contraception].”
For sexually experienced female teenagers, virtually all reported using contraception — at 99 percent — up from 98 percent in 2002 and from 96 percent in 1995.
However, choices of contraception were not always the most effective means in preventing pregnancies or preventing the transfer of sexually transmitted infections.
“The most commonly used methods among teenagers are these less effective methods, but they’re most readily available,” said Ms. Abma.
According to the data, the most popular methods of birth control for female teenagers were ranked as condoms (97 percent), withdrawal (60 percent) and the pill (56 percent).
“Withdrawal has always been a commonly used method among teenagers, and that just speaks to the need to have more effective methods readily available and accessible,” said Ms. Abma.
However, researchers also recorded significant increases for female teenagers in the use of emergency contraception, hormonal birth-control patches, and contraceptive implants and Ms. Abma said this is becoming more common because there are more options available on the market.
The U.S. still has the highest teen birth rate among developed countries, despite declines over the past 20 years. According to the CDC there were 24.2 births per every 1,000 teens in 2014, compared to 61.8 births for every 1,000 adolescent females in 1991.
The study author’s note that in 2014, the CDC declared teen pregnancy one of the seven “winnable battles” among emerging public health challenges. The list also included decreasing the use of tobacco, motor vehicle injuries, obesity, food safety, HIV infection, and infections associated with healthcare.
For experts on teen attitudes towards sex and pregnancy, the explanation as to why teens are either delaying sex or more frequently practicing safe sex is easily explained: they are just being responsible.
Dr. John Santelli is a senior fellow at the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization for sexual and reproductive health, and was a co-author of a 2014 study linking an increase in contraception use to a decrease in teen pregnancies.
“I think adolescents are actually ’more responsible’ today and it’s in a climate where people see education as essential,” said Dr. Santelli in an interview with the Washington Times.
“Getting a good job is not as easy as it used to be, so families and communities are supporting young people to make sure they finish at least high school and go on to college if they can … and I think all these pieces that support that … access to contraception does, kids delaying initiation if their not ready, figuring out that the internet is a useful source of health education material, I think all those contribute.”
For Leslie Kantor, the vice president of education for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, education and access to contraption is key.
“What we’ve seen now is very stable trends across time in terms of young people’s sexual behavior and continued evidence that if we give young people the education and skills they need they will make responsible healthy decisions,” she said.
Both the most recent data and previous studies support that finding that around the age of 17 both male and female teenagers begin to engage in their first sexual activity. The most recent data has 55% of teens having sex before the age of 18.
“For the most part teens are older teens when they do have sex and when they do engage in sex they tend to use birth control and this report is very clear that virtually all sexually active teen females use one form of birth control or another,” said Ms. Kantor.
“Talking about teens as responsible, it is also noteworthy that almost three-quarters of females and more than half of males say that the context for their first sexual experience is a committed relationship. I think that sometimes contradicts what people believe based on the media,” she said.
Both Dr. Santelli and Ms. Kantor highlighted the importance of the passage of the Affordable Care Act — currently undergoing repeal and a new iteration in the U.S. Senate — in making contraception widely available.
“A very important development was obviously the passage of Affordable Care Act which has given 55 million women access to no-pay birth control and we believe that’s particularly important for teens who tend to have less income, often no income and so certainly has been important in terms of access,” Ms. Kantor said.
Contact the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.