CDC: Teen Sexual Activity Declined

Sept. 27, 2002 -- It was a week of good news and bad news for parents regarding teenage sexual behavior.

First came the stuff they probably didn't want to hear: A new study found that most sexually active teens had their first sexual experience in their own or their partner's homes, typically at night during hours when parents are most likely to be there.

Forty-two percent of teens reported that their first sexual experience occurred between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., while another 28 percent said it occurred between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. The study was released Thursday by Child Trends, a Washington, D.C.-based research center.

While that study is giving many parents reason to stay awake at night keeping tabs on their teens, the good news is that there may be less frisky youth to watch.

Fewer teens are having sexual intercourse, says new data released today by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. Over a 10-year period from 1991 to 2001, the percentage of high school students who ever had sex dipped from 54.1 percent to 45.6 percent. The study did not address other types of sexual activity, such as oral sex.

The fall was witnessed in teens of both sexes as well as black and white students. Additionally, the percentage of those who reported having multiple sex partners fell 4.5 percentage points in the same time period among males, 11th and 12th grade students and blacks and whites, from 18.7 percent to 14.2 percent.

Multifaceted Problem, Multifaceted Approach

"The fact that this is a sustained trend over a period of years is telling us that this isn't just a blip on the radar screen," said Michael Resnick, a sociologist and professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the University of Minnesota Center for Adolescent Health and Development in Minneapolis. "It looks like young people are embracing a more thoughtful way of approaching some of these desicions and certainly seem to be making some healthier and more self-protective decisions."

Experts credit no one approach to bringing about this decline, stating that the combined input of a number of different approaches to curbing teen sex and pregnancy are likely responsible.

"We need those who are yelling about abstinence, and those who say we need birth control, and we need those who say we need education, and we need the parents involved, the schools involved, the churches involved, everybody," said Dr. Maryanne Felice, professor and chair of the department of pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. "I would hope that all of the professionals don't start arguing about who gets the credit. This is a multifactorial problem that requires a multifactorial solution."

At the same time that there is optimism, there is concern that the rates while lower, still hover around 50 percent of the teenage population, showing there is still room for improvement.

"It's better, I'm not complaining," said Felice, who points out that it is too soon to tell whether the numbers will continue their fall. "I remember when it was higher than that, so we are making slow steady trends. It doesn't happen suddenly."

Added Resnick, "Even when trends are going in the right direction, we have to reaffirm our commitment to evidence-based work and keep our eye on what works for kids."