Most Teens Would Wait On Sex

Story

Most Teens Would Wait On Sex

Special Report - December 30, 2010

The teen birth rate dropped to a historic low in 2009, reaching the lowest level ever recorded in the 70 years that teen births have been tracked, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCIS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report, “Births: Preliminary Data for 2009,” was released December 21, 2010, by the NCHS. It shows that the teen birth rate (per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19) dropped by six percent between 2008 and 2009 (from 41 births in 2008 to 39.1 births in 2009). According to the NCHS, the teen birth rate fell among all age groups, including younger and older teens, and among all racial and ethnic groups, which also reached record lows. As we previously reported, the birth rate for 15 to 19 year-olds increased nationwide by five percent between 2005 and 2007, after declining steadily for 14 years. Advocates of condom-based sex education used the decline to attack abstinence education.

“It is now apparent that the increase in the teen birth rate noted in 2007 and 2008 was only a hiccup--a blip--in the longer term, two-decade decline in teen births,” said Sarah Brown, CEO of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, in a press release. “We now are, thankfully, back on track.”

In other positive news, the NCHS report notes a decline in the total number of births to unmarried women in 2009, which dropped two percent since 2008—the first time since 1997. Additionally, the rate of births per 1,000 unmarried women decreased for the first time in seven years (or since 2002). “However, because total births declined more than unmarried births,” a CDC press release explains, “the percentage of births to unmarried mothers rose slightly in 2009 to 41 percent of all U.S. births compared to 40.6 in 2008.”

In related news, a new public opinion survey released December 21 by the National Campaign shows that nearly half of teenagers (46 percent) say that their parents influence them the most about decisions about sex, while only 20 percent of teens in the survey said their peers influence them the most. The survey, “With One Voice 2010,” also found that the majority of sexually active teen girls and boys express regret about their first sexual experience.

The survey found that 65 percent of teen girls and 57 percent of teen boys who have had sex say they “wish they had waited longer.”
Additionally, the survey found that 93 percent of teen girls and 88 percent of teen boys say they “would rather have a boyfriend/girlfriend and not have sex, than have sex and not have a boyfriend/girlfriend.”
Finally, 71 percent of teens in the survey agreed that sexting (the sending and receiving of nude or semi nude photos through cell phones, web sites or social media networks) “leads to more sex in real life.”

Related resources:
Teen Birth Rate Moves Downward - April 13, 2010
Teen "Sexting" - FNC - Summer 2010
Abstinence Unfairly Blamed - January 28, 2010