Fewer Teens Engaging in Sex, Study Finds

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- Fewer teens are engaging in sexual activity than in the past, and those that do are more likely to use contraceptives, the government said Friday.

The National Center for Health Statistics said that for girls aged 15 to 17 the percentage who had ever had intercourse declined from 38 percent in 1995 to 30 percent in 2002.

For boys, the agency said, the decline was 43 percent to 31 percent.

"There is much good news in these results," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said in a statement. "More teenagers are avoiding or postponing sexual activity, which can lead to sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy or emotional and societal responsibilities for which they are not prepared."

In addition, the agency said that when teens do have intercourse, 79 percent reported using contraception in 1991-2002 compared with 61 percent in the 1980's. The agency said the increase in contraception is consistent with a decline in teen pregnancy.

The report was based on data collected by the center, a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth and the previous survey conducted in 1995. ...

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-less-teen-sex,0,6141254.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[liberal N proud]

1. That is what shrubs faith based abstention training will do!

I feel this is probably propaganda to push the faith bS. Just like all the other propaganda they push, all motivated to drive their agenda.

[daleo]

21. 1995 to 2002

Five sevenths of this period was under Clinton, so if it can be credited to any president, most of the credit should go to him.

[Q3JR4]

2. Great...

Now wait and see what happens with the abstinence only crap now being shoved down the throats of the next generation.

[Rose Siding]

4. That won't explain increased use of contraception

That stat gives a leg up to more well rounded education.

[Atman]

5. "leg up," "being shoved down our throats."

I'm getting horny. This isn't a sex thread, is it?

[VegasWolf]

9. Yes, and Rose is talking about "well rounded" too! n/t

[Atman]

3. Depends on what IS is.

Sex?

When I was in high school in the 70's, BJs were rarer than getting laid. Now, we've sufficiently lied to kids enough and scared them enough about intercourse (which is all I saw mentioned here), that oral sex has become the new norm. Kids think they're not having "sex" if they aren't screwing.

This is a bogus finding...kids may not be doing the Horizontal Mambo the way they used to, but Pole Smoking and Carpet Munching (does anyone have carpet anymore?) have taken its place.

- Signed,
Dr. Feelie M'boney

[Vidar]

12. "Wall-to-wall" could be frightening in this context.

[flygal]

23. I was just going to say the same thing

but not quite as bluntly *carpet munching* - eewwww. lol

[0007]

30. When I told the chicks that my name was Mr. Goodhead

the Mormons went wild with excitement and didn't care much if I didn't believe in Joesph Smith.

[Just Me]

6. This is due to "liberal" sex education in schools.

Sex education takes the "mystery" and "curiosity" out of the hormone plagued act of nature.

Mere abstinence-based programs NEVER had this level of success.

[Not a robought]

7. Here's what they would avoid telling you

Virgin teens 'have same STD rate'

Young Americans who pledge to remain virgins until they marry have the same rates of sexually transmitted diseases as those who do not, a new study says. Teenagers who take a public vow to abstain from sex have fewer partners and get married earlier. But they are much less likely to use condoms, the research found. "It's difficult to simultaneously prepare for sex and say you're not going to have sex," the study's author Peter Bearman told the AP news agency.

The research, which is being presented at the National STD Conference in Philadelphia, examined the sex lives of 12,000 adolescents. The data was gathered from young people aged 12 to 18 who were questioned again six years later. According to the study, the STD rates were:
Whites who pledged virginity 2.8% - did not 3.5% Blacks: pledgers 18.1% - non-pledgers 20.3% Asians: pledgers 10.5% - non-pledgers 5.6% Hispanics: pledgers 6.7% - non-pledgers 8.6%

The study's authors say that from a statistical point of view, the rates are the same for both groups. "The message is really simple: 'Just say no' may work in the short-term but doesn't work in the long-term," Peter Bearman of Columbia University's Department of Sociology said. Critics of abstinence-only education said the findings showed that adolescents benefit from sex education. "It's a tragedy if we withhold from these kids information about how not to get STDs or not to get pregnant," Dorothy Mann, of the Family Planning Council, told the Associated Press.

more...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3546007.stm

[callous taoboy]

8. Caught two in my hedges just last night,

wearing nothing but DARE tee-shirts, gettin busy.

[ticapnews]

10. The headline should read "Fewer teens admit to engaging in sex"

Sex is evil! Original sin! And you can get pregnant just by looking at a boy and thinking an unclean thought!

Like kids are ever going to be honest when answering these questions anyway. Probably afraid their parents are in the next room with the Minister, ready to damn them to Hell.

[MatrixEscape]

13. Right!

The teens are smart! They know that, in a taboo climate, it is better to say you are not having sex.

Anyway, that's rather private information.

Just more, "look see, our methods work" for Shrub and company, as has been said.

[Orsino]

16. Bet there are fewer gays now, too...

...in the lead-up to the Inquisition.

"Fewer Corrupt Officials in Bush Administration, Study Finds."

[fshrink]

17. Do you smoke? Naaah!

Did you drink? Naaah!
Do you have impure thoughts? Naaah!
Did you do your homework? Yep!
Can you take the trash out? In a minute!

[Spiffarino]

29. You've been to my house?

Sounds like any ol' night at home. Sigh...

[daleo]

22. True, social desirability bias is always a consideration

This is always an issue in survey research.

[jobycom]

11. In other news, more teens lying when asked if they are having sex!

I trust this study as much as I trusted the one claiming terrorist attacks were down. The government has again created an "us against our kids" mentality, and teens are responding the way I and most of you responded when we were teens-- lying.

These children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations-- they're quite aware of what they're going through. God, that's my favorite line in Rock and Roll history.

[fugop]

14. Study in 2002?

Hmmm. Well, considering this was a 2002 study, I'm thinking a change from 1995 to 2002 had very little to do with any Bush policies. Would the few lame things he did in his first two years bring about such a change? Please. My guess is that in a couple years, this will get reversed due to the abstinence only garbage. After all, as pregnancies start to climb, it will be tougher for kids to deny that they're having sex, I imagine.

(Although I'm sure this administration will claim this is a major success, since they claim responsibility for any success, even if they fought tooth and nail to prevent it to begin with.)

[ECH1969]

15. Young people got more scared and more conservative

In the 80s and 90s so I am not suprised, but things will turn the other way in the next few years, I expect the rate of sex amoung everyone including young adults will go up regardless of what anything thinks about it after an HIV vaccine and better contraception along with a male birth control pill appear (and they will) in the next few years will end up turning things around. Change is the one constant thing in this world. And, even if Bush doesn't spend money on medical research Europe will.

[Cocoa]

18. the godless Clinton days are behind us

praise the Lord!

[xchrom]

19. i don't even believe this

nope, not on a bet....
i'm a guy -- and as a teenager all i could think about was foolin around -- and everybody i knew was the same.
we were all a buch o' jack rabbits. that was in central illinois -- the heart of the midwestern bible belt -- and virginity was rare indeed.

[Thor_MN]

20. "Study finds admitting sexual activity less acceptable among teens."

ANY survey answered by teens more accurately measures what the teens THINK the right answers are than what is actually going on.

[KDLarsen]

24. Well..

.. does the polling data takes the "It's not in her vagina, so it's not sex" thing into account? I heard something about bible belt teens engaging in anal sex & oral sex, because they believed that the definition of sex was to have penis inserted in the vagine!

[iconoclastic cat]

25. Really? Then why are so many of my high school students pregnant?

[Misunderestimator]

26. Oh... THAT explains the RISE In the number of abortions since 2000.

I guess contraceptives just aren't what they used to be. Or maybe the only "contraceptive" they are being taught in their faith-based sex-education to use is rhythm?

[davhill]

27. The Definition of Sex has Changed

Oral sex is now the prefered mode over intercourse.

[0007]

28. The teens are getting smarter. They know its not cool to say

"yes, I'm having sex."

So these fucking surveys are as worthless as tits on a bull. Beside the fundamentalist think that abstinence program is working, so let 'em play their silly stupid games until Mary get pregnant and has to get a back alley abortion. And Sammy gets STD that may cause death if not treated. Then they'll say, "we'll always have a few bad apple, won't we?