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The Answer to Your 15 Most Embarrassing Sex Questions
Teens Are Having Sex Later, Using Contraception, CDC Finds
Parents, relax. Fewer high school-aged teens are having sex, and when they do, they're most likely using contraception, a new government report found. Sexual intercourse among teens has declined again after rates stabilized between , according to the National Center for Health Statistics report on teen sexual activity and contraceptive use released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new study shows that just over 40 percent of boys and girls reported having had sexual intercourse by age 18 — a huge decline from the peak of when 57 percent of teens between the ages of 15 and 19 reported having had sex.
But scientists also found that sexual violence has become more common among high school students and condom use has declined. For the study, the researchers examined national surveys of high school students conducted in , and by the U. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The team looked for trends in sexual activity, use of birth control and exposure to sexual violence. The study showed that 40 percent of U.
But concerns about virginity and teen sex are not necessarily backed by the data and not every adolescent is in a pact to lose their v-card before college. The reality is that only about half of teenagers have sex before high school graduation, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and that figure has not changed for over a decade. W hile the data may quell some concerns, it raises new ones for parents as well. The percent of virgins in high school is a trend that has remained pretty consistent since , CDC data suggests. Only about 1 in 4 ninth graders report that they have ever had sex.