Sex and America's TeenagersAlthough sexual activity is common among teenagers, it is not as widespread, and does not begin as early, as most adults believe. This report provides detailed data and analysis of sex among adolescents. Adolescent sexual activity is grouped in ten categories: (1) Rites of passage; (2) The context of adolescents' lives; (3) Sex among teenagers; (4) Risks and prevention of unintended pregnancy and STDs; (5) Incidence and consequences of STDs; (6) Adolescent pregnancy; (7) Outcomes of adolescent pregnancies; (8) Adolescent mothers and their children; (9) Organized responses to adolescent sexual and reproductive behavior; and (10) Where do we go from here? Although young people's sexual behavior today is broadly seen as problematic, no consensus exists as to what the problem is. Most adolescents have always experienced sex, but in the past it was closely linked to marriage, especially for young women. However, over the last century, puberty has slowly moved to earlier ages, as has the initiation of sexual activity, while marriage has been postponed to later years. Adolescents live in a more diverse country than the one their parents knew -- society, family, violence, and sexual messages differ dramatically from the standards of the previous generation. Included in this booklet are numerous graphs. Citations appear for all data. (Contains over 200 references.) (RJM) |
Contents
Table of Contents | 4 |
Sex Among Teenagers | 19 |
Incidence and Consequences of STDs | 38 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
19 and younger 1988 National Survey abortion adoles adolescent mothers adolescent women adults AGI tabulations become pregnant birthrates child childbearing Chlamydia condom contraceptive Ectopic pregnancy evaluated Family Growth family planning clinics Family Planning Perspectives Figure Final Natality Statistics gonorrhea Health Statistics Hispanic HIV if exposed Hofferth infection intercourse J. D. Forrest Kost and Forrest marriage married Medicaid Menarche methods Monthly Vital Statistics NCHS never-married Nonmarital birth older women parents partners Pelvic inflammatory disease pill Pleck poor or low-income preg pregnancy and STDs pregnancy rates pregnant teenagers prenatal care prevent pregnancy programs Report of Final S. K. Henshaw sex education sexual activity sexual behavior sexual intercourse sexually experienced teenagers Sexually experienced women sexually transmitted Sexually Transmitted Disease sexually transmitted infection Sonenstein Source Survey of Family Table tabulations of data teen teenage mothers Teenage Pregnancy teenage women tion trends trichomoniasis U.S. Bureau unintended pregnancy unmarried Vital Statistics Report young women