According to the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior—and contra the impression presented by Hollywood—the vast majority of teenagers are not having sex:
Many surveys of adolescent sexual behavior create an impression that adolescents are becoming sexually active at younger ages, and that most teens are sexually active,” Fortenberry said. “Our data show that partnered sexual behaviors are important but by no means pervasive aspects of adolescents’ lives. In fact, many contemporary adolescents are being responsible by abstaining or by using condoms when having sex.”
[. . .]
At any given point in time, most U.S. adolescents are not engaging in partnered sexual behavior. While 40 percent of 17 year-old males reported vaginal intercourse in the past year, only 27 percent reported the same in the past 90 days.
(Via: MercatorNet)
October 7th, 2010 | 9:52 am
The statement that the kids ‘are being responsible by abstaining or by using condoms’ was a little funny. Imagine there is a magic pill that lets people drink as much alcohol as they want without becoming addicted. The author would then say something like, the kids were very responsible about alcohol because they were either sober or drunk all the time but taking the magic pill!
Kudos to the abstainers. Your future spouses will appreciate your effort.
October 7th, 2010 | 1:38 pm
How could someone be not active but use a condom? It doesn’t make sense for me.
October 7th, 2010 | 2:12 pm
Wait…..You mean MTV’s portrayal (where nary a ‘normal’ teen who’s also a virgin is found) of teenage sexual conduct is…….inaccurate?
Geez…who can you trust these days?
October 8th, 2010 | 5:02 am
Are you sure that’s not “40 percent of 17-year-old males imagined vaginal intercourse in the past year”?
It’s amusing that the study “caught” men exaggerating how much pleasure they give their partners (by about 20 percentage points), yet presented the self-reporting of sexual conquests by 17-year-old males (on an internet questionnaire, no less!) without any apparent attempt to determine the objective accuracy of those reports.
October 8th, 2010 | 12:05 pm
The study, at least according to the linked article, didn’t count oral, anal, or other forms of sex when it said most teens weren’t having sex. If they had counted them…
The study seems to show that sexually active teens are afraid of getting pregnant.
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