Teenagers and Sex in America

TEEN SEX& PREGNANCY

SEXUAL ACTIVITY

CONTRACEPTIVE USE

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES

(STDs)

TEEN PREGNANCY

CHILDBEARING

TEEN MOTHERS AND THEIR CHILDREN

ABORTION

SOURCES OF DATA

SEXUAL ACTIVITY

Most adolescents begin having

intercourse in their mid-to-late teens,

about 8 years before they

marry.1

56% of young women and 73% of

young men today have had

intercourse by age 18, compared

with 35% of young women and 55% of

young men in the early 1970s.2

While the likelihood of

having intercourse increases steadily with age,

1 in 5 teens do not have

intercourse during their teenage years.3

7 in 10 women who had sex

before age 14, and 6 in 10 of those who

had sex before age 15, report

having had sex involuntarily.4

Among sexually active

15­17-year-old women, 55% have had 2 or

more partners and 13% have had

at least 6.5

Contents

CONTRACEPTIVE USE

A sexually active teenager

who doesn't use contraception has a 90%

chance of pregnancy within one

year.6

3/4 of teens use some method

of contraception ‹ usually a condom ‹

the first time they have sex.7

Teenage women's contraceptive

use at first intercourse rose from 64%

in the late 1980's to 76% in

the 1990's, almost entirely because of

increases in condom use: from

36% in the late 1980's to 54% in the

1990's).8

At least 7 in 10 teenage

women and their partners currently use a

contraceptive method.9

1/4 of the 1.7 million teens

who use the pill also use condoms.10

Single teens who use

contraceptives are less likely to become pregnant

than are single women in their

early 20s who practice contraception.11