Sexual behaviors data

The most recent data (which is from year 2002) reports that:

• Among female adolescents aged 15-17 years, 30.0% reported ever having had sex, compared with 70.6% of those aged 18-19 years.
• Among male adolescents aged 15-17 years, 31.6% reported ever having had sex, compared with 64.7% of those aged 18-19 years.
• Among teenagers aged 15-19 years, 13.1% of females and 14.8% of males reported having had sex at age <15>

Talk to your teens and show them that very few minors (people under the age of 18) have had sex. They should not feel pressure from the statement "everyone is doing it" because it simply is not true that minors are all having sex. It also isn't true that "adult" teens are all having sex... about 1 in 3 are not! Ask your kids what they think it means that 65% of boys aged 18-19 have had sex while 71% of girls of the same age have had sex.

• Among females aged 18-24 years, 9.6% who had sex by age 20 years reported having had nonvoluntary first intercourse. Having ever been forced to have intercourse was reported by 14.3% of females aged 18-19 years and 19.1% of females aged 20-24 years.

Ask your daughters if they have ever been forced, coerced, or pressured into having sex. Was their first experience voluntary or involuntary? If your daughter has ever been forced, coerced, or pressured into sex, get her some counseling help to process the thoughts and emotions she has about that experience.

• The majority (58.7%) of females aged 15-19 years reported that their first sex partners were 1-3 years older than they were, and 22.4% reported that their first partners were ≥4 years older than they were.

Has your daughter been exploited by a male who is older than her? Has your minor daughter been having sex with a man who is not a minor?

• Approximately three in 10 female and male adolescents aged 15-19 years reported having had two or more sexual partners.

Ask your kids to figure out how many sexual partners a person might have at the age of 23 if they had 2 partners between the age of 15 and 19. How many might they have had at the age of 27 if that trend continued? What do they think about the possibility of having that many different sexual partners?