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America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011

Sexual Activity

Early sexual activity is associated with emotional100 and physical health risks. Youth who engage in sexual activity are at risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and becoming pregnant. STIs, including HIV, can infect a person for a lifetime and have consequences including disability and early death. Meanwhile, delaying sexual initiation is associated with a decrease in the number of lifetime sexual partners,101 and decreasing the number of lifetime partners is associated with a decrease in the rate of STIs.102, 103 Additionally, teen pregnancy is associated with a number of negative risk factors, not only for the mother but also for her child (see FAM6).

Indicator Beh4: Percentage of high school students who reported ever having had sexual intercourse by gender and selected grades, selected years 1991–2009
Percentage of high school students who reported ever having had sexual intercourse by gender and selected grades, selected years 1991–2009

NOTE: Students were asked, "Have you ever had sexual intercourse?" Data are collected biennially.

SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System.

  • In 2009, 46 percent of high school students reported ever having had sexual intercourse.
  • The proportion of students who reported ever having had sexual intercourse declined significantly from 1991 (54 percent) to 2001 (46 percent) and remained relatively stable from 2001 to 2009.
  • The percentage of students who reported ever having had sexual intercourse differed by grade. In 2009, 32 percent of 9th-grade students reported ever having had sexual intercourse, compared with 62 percent of 12th-grade students.
  • Trends differed by race and ethnicity. The percentage of White, non-Hispanic students who reported ever having had sexual intercourse declined from 50 percent in 1991 to 43 percent in 2001, and remained between 42 percent and 44 percent from 2003 to 2009. The percentage also declined among Black, non-Hispanic students, from 82 percent in 1991 to 67 percent in 2003, and remained relatively stable from 2003 to 2009. There was no statistically significant change among Hispanic students between 1991 and 2009 (when the percentage was 49 percent).
  • Overall, rates of sexual intercourse did not differ by gender, though they did differ by gender within some racial and ethnic groups. In 2009, 72 percent of Black, non-Hispanic male students reported ever having had sexual intercourse, compared with 58 percent of Black, non-Hispanic female students; 53 percent of Hispanic male students reported ever having had sexual intercourse, compared with 45 percent of Hispanic female students.104
  • In 2009, 20 percent of students who had sexual intercourse in the past 3 months reported that they or their partner had used birth control pills before their last sexual intercourse, and 61 percent reported condom use. Of particular note is that condom use has increased since 1991 (from 46 percent) among high school students.

table icon BEH4.A HTML Table, BEH4.B/C HTML Table

100 Meier, A.M. (2007). Adolescent first sex and subsequent mental health. American Journal of Sociology 112 (6): 1811–1847.

101 Chandra, A., Martinez, G.M., Mosher, W.D., Abma, J.C., and Jones, J. (2005). Fertility, family planning, and reproductive health of U.S. women: Data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. Vital and Health Statistics, 23 (25). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.

102 Dunne, E.F., Unger, E.R., Sternberg, M., McQuillan, G., Swan, D.C., Patel, S.S., and Markowitz, L.E. (2007). Prevalence of HPV infection among females in the United States. Journal of the American Medical Association, 297 (8), 813–819.

103 Gottlieb, S.L., Pope, V., Sternberg, M.R., McQuillan, G.M., Beltrami, J.F., Berman, S.M., and Markowitz, L.E. (2008). Prevalence of syphilis seroreactivity in the United States: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) 2001–2004. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 35 (5), 507–511.

104 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data. Available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/Default.aspx.