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 men aged 15-19 who reported ever having sexual intercourse dropped from 60 per cent to 42 per cent.
Among women, the percentage of those aged 15-19 who said they had had sexual intercourse fell over the same time period from 51 per cent to 43 per cent.
From 2006-2010, of teenagers whose mother has some college education or higher, 37 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women say they have had sexual intercourse.
Of teenagers who live with both biological or adoptive parents, 35 per cent of men and 35 per cent of women 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 per cent of teenagers agreed, “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 entitled, b4udecide, designed 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 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.