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American Teens: Less Sex, More
Condoms
July 13, 2007
By Jennifer C. Kerr
WASHINGTON - Fewer high school
students are having sex these days, and more are using condoms. The
teen birth rate has hit a record low.
More young people are finishing
high school, too, and more little kids are being read to, according
to the latest government snapshot on the well-being of the nation's
children. It's good news on a number of key wellness indicators,
experts said of the report being released Friday.
"The implications for the
population are quite positive in terms of their health and their
well-being," said Edward Sondik, director of the National Center for
Health Statistics. "The lower figure on teens having sex means the
risk of sexually transmitted diseases is lower."
In 2005, 47 percent of high school
students _ 6.7 million _ reported ever having had sexual
intercourse, down from 54 percent in 1991. The rate of those who
reported having had sex has remained the same since 2003.
Thirty-four percent of the students
reported having had sex during a three-month period in 2005. Of
those, 63 percent _ about 3 million _ used condoms. That's up from
46 percent in 1991.
The teen birth rate, the report
said, was 21 per 1,000 young women ages 15-17 in 2005 _ an all-time
low. It was down from 39 births per 1,000 teens in 1991.
"This is very good news," said
Sondik. "Young teen mothers and their babies are at a greater risk
of both immediate and long-term difficulties."
The birth rate in the 15-19 age
group was 40 per 1,000 in 2005, also down sharply from the previous
decade.
Education campaigns that started
years ago are having a significant effect, said James Wagoner,
president of Advocates for Youth, a Washington-based nonprofit group
that focuses on prevention of teen pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases.
"I think the HIV/AIDS epidemic and
the efforts in the '80s and '90s had a lot to do with that," Wagoner
said of the improved numbers on teen sex, condoms and adolescent
births.
"We need to encourage young teens
to delay sexual initiation and we need to make sure they get all the
information they need about condoms and birth control," he said.
The report was compiled from
statistics and studies at 22 federal agencies, and covered 38 key
indicators, including infant mortality, academic achievement rates
and the number of children living in poverty. The 2005 figures were
the most comprehensive numbers available.
Other highlights:
_The percentage of children covered
by health insurance decreased slightly. In 2005, 89 percent of
children had health insurance coverage at some point during the
year, down from 90 percent the previous year.
_The percentage of low birthweight
infants (born weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces) increased. It
was 8.2 percent in 2005, up from 8.1 percent in 2004.
_More youngsters are getting
reading time. Sixty percent of children ages 3-5 (and not in
kindergarten) were read to daily by a family member in 2005, up from
53 percent in 1993.
_The percentage of children who had
at least one parent working year round and full-time increased to
78.3 percent in 2005, up from 77.6 percent the previous year.
_More young people are completing
high school. In 2005, 88 percent of young adults had finished high
school _ up from 84 percent in 1980.
The report was released by the
Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics _ a
consortium of federal agencies that includes the National Institute
of Child Health and Human Development, the Census Bureau and the
Administration for Children and Families.
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