Facts about Teen Sex

Teen Sex

Sexual Activity ["Teen Sex and Pregnancy," Facts in Brief, AGI, 1998]

• About 25% of 15 year olds have had sex
• About 55% of 17 year olds have had sex
• About 80% of 19 year olds have had sex
• About 20% of young people do not have sex while teens

Reasons Teens give for Having Sex [Lewis Harris Poll 1986, by Planned Parenthood]

1. Peer/social pressure
2. It feels good
3. Pressure from partner
4. No longer a virgin, so what's it matter?
5. Lack of understanding about real love
6. Rebellion
7. Curiosity
8. An expression of love & a response to the need to be loved

Having sex can be risky. It's not like it's shown on the movies or TV, where characters rarely get pregnant or contract a sexually transmitted disease.

See also Media and Adolescent Sexual Activity page (Westside PRC).

Sexually Transmitted Disease

• Teens make up about one quarter of the 12 million cases of STD cases reported annually. One in four sexually active teens contract an STD. [Centers for Disease Control, 1993 Annual Report]

Partial Listing of STD's and Consequenses [Contraceptive Technology, RA Hatcher et al, 1994]

Some Common STD's Chlamydia Gonorrhea Hepatitis B Herpes HIV/AIDS Human Papalloma Virus Syphllis Candidiasis Other STD's Bacterial Vaginosis Chancroid Granuloma Inguinale Lymphogranloma Venereum Mucopurulent Cervicitis Molluscum Contagiosum Nongonococcal Urethritis Trichomoniasis Results of STD's Pelvic Inflammatory Disease Ectopic Pregnancy Cervical Cancer Infertility Pain Death

Some Facts about STD's

• Gonorrhea is one of the most frequently reported STDs. In 1992, women ages 15 to 19 had the highest rates. [Centers for Disease Control, 1993 Annual Report]
• An estimated one in four sexually active teens have chlamydia. 75% of infected women and 25% of infected men have no symptoms. [Urological Clinic of North America, 1992]
• Chlamydia often causes PID (40%), which can cause chronic pain, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and death. The highest rate of acute infection requiring hospitalization is among women ages 15 to 19. [Center for Disease Control, 1993 Annual Report]
• The number one risk factor for cervical cancer is early sexual activity, the second is multiple sex partners. [CT, Hatcher et al, 1994, pp. 515]
• One in six sexually active teens contract HPV, which can cause pain, genital warts, cancer, and death. [Center for Disease Control, 1993 Annual Report]
• Half of all sexually active young women end up contracting HPV. 20% evenually recover, but 80% are afflicetd the rest of their lives. [CT, Hatcher et al, 1994]
• In 1999, over 800 new cases of AIDS were reported among teens. Many more go unreported. [CDC, Young People at Risk (Centers for Disease Control)]
• AIDS is the sixth leading cause of death among young men and women.

STD's are sexist. They damage women far worse than men. More on Sexually Transmitted Disease (Epigee Birth Control Guide).

Birth Control & Disease Prevention

Contraceptives are far less effective for teens and young women than for older users. Note the high pregnancy rates for users over just one year.

Source: R. A. Hatcher. Contraceptive Technology, 1986-1987 (13th Revised Edition). New York: Irvington Publishers, 1986, page 139. Also see Kim Painter. "'Disturbing' Data on Birth Control Failure." USA Today , July 13, 1989, page 1D.

• Currently, 44% of sexually active teens use the Pill, 38% use condoms, 10% use Depo-Provera (injectable), 4% use withdrawal, and 3% use Norplant (implant). ["Teen Sex and Pregnancy," Facts in Breif, AGI, 1998]
• Among sexually active teenage girls aged 12 to 18, 20% of oral contraceptive users became pregnant over a mere six months. [LM Dinerman et al, Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Med, 149(9):967-72, Sept 1995.]

Birth Control Heath Hazards [CT, Hatcher et al, 1994]

• The Pill: Health risks include abnormal blood clotting and heart attacks, cancer, and gallbladder disease. Side effects include headaches, acne, weight gain, vaginal infections, and depression.
• Mini-pill: Health risks and side effects include ectopic pregnancy, ovarian cysts, weight gain, and menstrual cycle disturbances.
• Norplant: Expensive, costing $500-700 for insertion. Common side effects include headaches, acne, weight gain, nausea, nervousness, hair loss, mood swings, ovarian cysts, scarring upon removal.
• Depo-Provera: Increasing amenorrhea, headaches, dizziness, weight gain, loss in bone density, allergy, depression, and ovarian cysts. (And possibly cervical cancer, breast cancer, hemorrhaging, fetal defect.)
• IUD: Health risks include pelvic-inflammatory disease, permanent infertility, ectopic pregnancy, septic abortion, and even death.
• Condoms & Spermicides: Irritation, allergy, urinary tract infection.

More about Birth Control (this site).

Condoms & Safer Sex

• In preventing pregnancy, condoms have a standardized failure rate of 15.7 percent over the course of a year. [EF Jones and JD Forrest, "Contraceptive Failure in the US: Revised Estimates from the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth" Family Perspectives, Vol. 21, No. 3, May/June 1989, p.103.]
• For persons under the age of 18, condoms were found to fail 18.4 percent of the time after one year of use. [MD Hayward and J Yogi, "Contraceptive Failure Rate in the US: Estimates from the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth," Family Perspectives, Vol 18, No. 5, Sept/Oct 1986, p. 204.]
• Among sexually active teenage girls aged 12 to 18, 30% contracted an STD over a six month period, including condom users. [LM Dinerman et al, Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Med, 149(9):967-72, Sept 1995.]
• For unmarried minorities, the condom failure rate is 36.3 percent, and for unmarried Hispanics, the failure rate is as high as 44.5 percent. [Jones and Forrest, 1989, p. 105.]
• Among married couples where one partner was HIV-positive, 17 percent of the uninfected spouses contracted the disease, despite the use of condoms. [Contraceptive Technology, Hatcher et al, 1990, p. 173.] That is a rate greater than one in six. Statistically speaking, the uninfected partners would have been better off playing Russian Roulette.
• Only 7 percent of HIV positive persons voluntarily notify their sexual partners. [New England Journal of Medicine, Jan 9, 1992.]

Probablities in Perspective: Example using a method with a 15% annual failure rate

• Failure rate after 1 year's time: 15% - one in 7 have gotten pregnant
• Failure rate after 2 year's time: 28% - one in 4 have gotten pregnant
• Failure rate after 3 year's time: 39% - one in 3 have gotten pregnant
• Failure rate after 4 year's time: 48% - half have gotten pregnant

Teen Pregnancy

Reproduction: How Babies are Made

• Sex leads to pregnancy.
• Conception - the joining of the egg and sperm into new life.

More about Fetal Development (this site).

Teens & Unintended Pregnancy

• 43% of all unintended pregnancies occurred while using contraception [Alan Guttmacher Inst., Facts in Brief, 1993]
• 20% of young women who become sexually active become pregnant within the first month of sexual activity. 50% become pregnant within the first six months.
• 85% of teen pregnancies are unintended [AGI, Facts in Brief, 1993]

Although some teens marry, the vast majority of boyfriends leave when the girlfriend has a baby.

• 75% of teens 15-19 are unmarried by the time their pregnancies are resolved. [CT, Hatcher, 1994, p. 572]
• In 1989, 67% of births occured to unmarried teens.

More about Boyfriends and Pregnancy (this site).

Health Considerations

• Although many teen pregnancies result in poor health for both mother and baby, good nutrition and prenatal care results in better pregnancy outcomes than those of older women. [CT, Hatcher, 1994]
• Problems occur when teens try to hide their pregnancies. [CT, Hatcher, 1994]
• In several much-publicized cases, hidden pregnancies by teens have resulted in infanticide.

Abortion

• One in four women (26%) obtaining abortions are teens. [AGI, Facts in Brief, 1993]
• 41% of teens who become pregnant have abortions. [AGI, Facts in Brief, 1993]
• 61% on teens have abortions without their parents' knowledge or consent. [AGI, Facts in Brief, 1993]
• Reasons: 3/4 say they cannot afford to have a baby, 2/3 say they are not mature enough; 1/4 have never used birth control. [AGI, Facts in Brief, 1993]

More information about Abortion (this site).

Overview

Source: Westside Pregnancy Resource Center, Los Angeles, CA