A new Centers for Disease Control study has found that less than half teens say they have had premarital sexual intercourse, a figure that’s down several percentage points from 2002.
Forty-three percent of girls and forty-two percent of boys say they’ve had intercourse, down from 51.1 percent of girls and 60.4 percent of boys in 2002. The study examined data from 2006 to 2010.
Contrary to what Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant would have us believe, the teen birth rate is down to 39 per 1,000, the lowest rate ever recorded in the U.S.
Why the shift?
The most common reason both girls and boys gave for never having had sex was that doing so was against their religion or morals; that has always been the primary reason in previous surveys, too, [study author] Dr. [Gladys] Martinez said. But the second-most-common reason among boys in the current survey was that they had not yet found the right person, a distinct change from 2002, when the No. 2 reason was that they did not want to get a girl pregnant.
Some, however, have questioned whether the data is truly accurate, since teens could be whitewashing the truth. Either way, we’re all for more thoughtfulness when it comes to sex.
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At least the ones that are doing it are using condoms!