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Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
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Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
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Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
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Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 12
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 13
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 14
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 15
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 16
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 17
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 18
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 19
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 20
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 21
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 22
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 23
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 24
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 25
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 26
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 27
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 28
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 29
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 30
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 31
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 32
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 33
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 34
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 35
Suggested Citation:"1. Sexual Activity Among Adolescents." National Research Council. 1987. Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II Statistical Appendices only. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/944.
×
Page 36

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

I . SEXUAL ACT IN7ITY AMONG ADOLESCENTS This section presents information on sexual activity among adoles- cents in the United States. Data are provided on sexual activity among never-married teens and married teens before and after marriage. In most cases the designation of being sexually active pertains to men and women ever having intercourse. Data are also provided on frequency of sexual intercourse, number of premarital sexual partners, location of first intercourse and other factors that may affect the timing of first sexual intercourse among adolescents, such as age at first menstruation. The data came from three main sources, the National Surveys of Young Women and Men (NSYW/M), the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (NLS), and the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). 1979 NSYW/M are for U.S. metropolitan areas only. For this reason the data in Table 1. 2 from the 1971 and the 1976 NSYW/M and the 1982 NSFG were adjusted to include metropolitan areas only, in order to present for which similar data from the 1982 NSFG were not available, only data from the NSYW/M are presented. Data on young men are only available in the NSYM and the NLS. _ a comparable time series. In subsequent tables ~ The The estimates of female sexual activity based on data from the NLS and the NSFG although generally consistent, differ in three respects. First, the age categories for the NSFG are mid-year (i.e., age 15 means 15.5 years) whereas for the NLS data, the age categories extend to the end of a specified age (i.e., age 15 means until the 16th birthday). Second, unless otherwise noted data from the NLS include all women re- aardless of marital status. Third, Hispanic persons In the NLS data (black or white); in the NSFG data, unless other- wise noted black and white totals include H ispanic persons. This means that the race and ethnicity categories are not mutually exclusive. The NSYW/M do not include data on Hispanics. _ - may be of any r ace , A-9 / 361

A-10 / 36 2 TABLE 1.1 Proportion Of Women Aged 15 To 19 Beginning Menstruation At Specif ic Ages, By Race Of Women, 1976 - 19801 Proportion of Women, by Race Age at First Menstrual Cycle Total Whites Blacks 8-10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17+ 5.196 12.7 29.4 30.2 13.1 5.9 2.9 0.7 4.6% 12.1 29.6 31.4 12.9 5.8 2.9 0.7 7.6 17.6 24.7 25.8 14.8 9.5 100.0 100.0 100.0 Mean Age 12.6 12.7 12~5 \ N = 2 ,121 1 J 767 30 5 Notes: None of the black-white differences in age at mena rche reach accepted levels of stat istical signif icance. The total group includes 49 women of other race groups. Where cell sizes fell below 25, data are grouped in categor ies. Data are derived from women' s responses to a question in the medical interview, "How old were you when your period or menstrual cycles started? Data we re coded in year s. Source : Unpublished tabulation from Ronette Briefel, National Center for Health Statistics, DHHS , Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1976 - 1980.

A-11 / 363 TABLE 1.1 Table 1.1 shows the proportion of women aged 15 to 19 (studied between 1976 and 1980) by age at menarche and race. These data were tabulated from the Second National Health and Nutrition Survey. Over three quarters, 77.4 percent, of all women began menstruation by age 13, 96.4 percent of all women began menstruation by age 15. The mean age at first menstruation for all women was 12.6 years, 12.7 years for white women and 12.5 years for black women. The difference in age at first menstruation between black and white women is not statistically significant.

A-12 / 364 TABLE 1.2 Percent Never Marr fed Women Living In Metropolitan Areas Ever Experiencing Sexual Intercourse, By Age 1971 - 1982 (percent who have had intercourse) . Race Pe rcent Chang e and Age 1982 1979 1976 1971 1971-82 All Races* 15-19 15 16 17 18 19 Wh ite 42.2 17.8 28.1 41.0 52.7 61.7 46.0 22.5 37.8 48.5 56.9 69.0 39.2 18.6 28.9 42.9 51.4 59.5 27.6 14.4 20.9 26.1 39.7 46.4 52.9 23.6 34.4 57.0 32.7 33.0 15~19 40.3 42.3 33.6 23.2 73.7 15 17.3 18.3 13.8 11.3 53.1 16 26.9 35.4 23.7 17.0 58.0 17 39.5 44.1 36.1 ' 20.2 95.5 18 48.6 52.6 46.0 35.6 36.5 19 59.3 64.9 53.6 40.7 45.7 Black lS-19 15 16 17 18 19 52.9 23.2 36.3 46.7 75.7 78.0 64.8 41.1 50.4 73.3 76.3 88.5 64.3 38.9 55.1 71.0 76.2 83.9 52.4 31.2 44.4 58.9 60.2 78.3 1.0 -25.6 -18.2 -20.7 25.7 *Includes races other than Black and White. Sources: Melvin Zelnik & John F. Kantner, "Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use and Pregnancy Among Metropolitan-Area Teenagers: 1971-1979", Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 12, No. 5, Sept/Oct 1980. William Pratt, NCHS, National Survey of Family Growth, 1982, Cycle III, unpublished tabulations, 1984.

A-13 / 365 TABLE 1.2 Table 1.2 shows the percent of never married women aged 15 to 19 living in metropolitan areas who had ever experienced sexual inter- course by 1971, 1976, 1979 and 1982. For all 15- to 19-year-old metro- politan women, there was a 53 percent increase in the percent of sexually experienced females between 1971 and 1982 due primarily to increases among whites. Overall, the percent increase in the propor- tion sexually experienced was the largest among 17-year olds. There was also a substantial increase in the proportion of females aged 15 and 16 who were sexually experienced. Although the proportion sexually active increased during the 1970s, between 1979 and 1982, there was a slight decrease in the percent of metropolitan teenage females experiencing intercourse. Of women aged 15 to 19 in 1982, about 42 percent had had intercourse compared to 46 percent of women aged 15 to 19 in 1979. The decline in the proportion sexually active occurred for 15-, 16-, 17-, 18- and 19-year-old female teenagers regardless of race. The decline for white teenagers was slight, from 42.3 to 40.3 percent for 15- to 19-year-olds and is not statistically significant. The decline for black teenagers was much larger, from 64.8 to 52.9 percent for 15- to 19-year-olds. From a statistical perspective this trend is only marginally certain, and will have to be monitored to determine its significance. It is important to note that, while more than 50 percent of females aged 18 to 19 in 1982 had experienced intercourse, fewer than 30 percent of females aged 15 and 16 in 1982 had done so.

A—14 / 366 TABLE 1.3 All Women And Nelrer-Marr fed Women Who Have Ever Had Sexual Intercourse, By Age And Race, 1982 ~ National Survey Of Family Growth Number of Women ~ logos) 96 Who Had I nte rcou r se Age* Total** White Black Total.. White Black A 11 Women All Ages 15 - 44 54,099 45,367 6,985 86.3 86.0 89.7 15-19 9,521 7,815 1,416 46.9 44.9 58.9 15-17 5,122 4,119 821 32.2 30.1 44.1 15 1,474 1,191 209 19.2 17.9 28.0 16 1,601 1,302 260 30.4 28.8 41.6 17 2,046 1,626 352 43.0 40.1 55.4 18 2,327 1,967 302 58.1 54.8 77.0 19 2,072 1,728 293 70.7 69.0 82.0 20-24 10,629 8,855 1,472 85.4 84.5 93.2 25-44 33,949 28, 697 4, 097 97.6 97.7 99. Never-Marr fed Women \ All Ages 15-44 19,164 14, 948 3, 545 61.3 57.6 79. 6 15-19 8,839 7,193 1,377 42.8 40.2 57.8 15-17 4,968 3, 971 818 30.1 27.5 43.8 15 1,460 1,177 209 18.4 16.9 28.0 16 i,559 1,263 257 28.5 26.7 40.8 17 1,949 1,531 352 40.1 36.4 55.4 18 2 ,107 1, 768 289 53.8 49.7 76.1 19 1, 764 1,454 270 65.6 63 .2 80.5 20-24 5,811 4, 502 1,084 73.3 69.5 90.8 25-44 4, 514 3 ,252 1, 084 82.0 79.7 96. 3 . *Single years of age refer to the mid-points in the age intervals, e.g., 15 means 15.5 years. **Includes races other than White and Black. Source: Pratt et al. "Understanding U.S. Fertility," Population Bulletin, Volume 39 No. 5, December 1984. Reprinted by permission.

A-15 / 367 TABLE 1. 3 Table 1.3 shows data f rom the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) on the number and percent of all women and never marr fed women who ever had sexual intercourse by age and race for 1982. Among all women aged 15 to 19, 47 percent had had sexual intercourse (44.9 per- cent of white teens and 58.9 percent of black teens), compared to more than 85 percent of all women older than age 20. The proportions of never-married women aged 15-19 ever having had sexual intercourse are only slightly lower than for all women aged 15 to 19 because most women under age 20 have never been married. Unmarried teens account for 32 percent of all unmarried women ever having had intercourse and 8 per- cent of all sexually active women. It should be noted that the proportions presented in this table for never-married women differ slightly for those presented in Table 1.2 for 1982 because they are not limited to metropolitan areas.

A-16 / 368 TABLE 1.4 Cumulat ive Sexual Act ivity By S ingle Year Of Age, Sex, Race And Ethnicityl, 1983, Nat tonal Long itud inal Survey Of Youth Cumulative Be Sexually Active Age* Male Female Total 15 16 ~7 18 19 20 N White 15 16 17 18 19 20 N 16.6 28.7 47.9 64.0 77.6 83.0 (4657) 12.1 23.3 42.8 60.1 75.0 81.1 (2828) 5.4 12.6 27.1 44.0 62.9 73. 6 (4648) 4.7 11.3 25.2 41.6 60.8 72.0 (2788) Black 15 42.4 9.7 16 59.6 20.1 17 77.3 39.5 18 85.6 59.4 19 92.2 77.0 20 93.9 84.7 N (1146) (1157) H ispanics 15 19.3 4.3 16 32.0 11.2 17 49.7 23.7 18 67.1 40.2 19 78.5 58.6 20 84.2 69.5 N (683) (703) - Note: Sample is limited to respondents age 20 and over at 1983 survey date. *Percentages reference birthday for specified ages, e.g., 15 means by 15th birthday or end of 14. [Hispanic persons may be of any race. Source: Special Tabulations from the 1983 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University.

A-17 / 369 TABLE 1.4 Data on the cumulative percent of males and females in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth {NLS) who reported having had sexual intercourse are presented in Table 1.4. by age and race . In all, 4 out of every 5 males and 7 out of every 10 females were sexually active by age 20. Among males, blacks were more likely to be sexually experienced than both Hispanic and white males. Nearly 60 percent of the black males had had intercourse by age 16 and 94 percent had had intercourse by age 20. In comparison, by age 16 about 32 per- cent of the Hispanic males and less than a quarter of the white males were sexually experienced. By age 20, slightly more than 80 percent of white and Hispanic males had had intercourse. This data base, like the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), indicates that black females were more likely to have had intercourse than whites or Hispanics. Approximately 2 out of 10 black females were sexually active by age 16 and more than 8 out of 10 were sexually active by age 20. In contrast, only 1 out of 10 white and Hispanic females were sexually active by age 16 and 7 out of 10 were sexually active by age 20. In general, males were sexually active at younger ages than fe- males, and blacks were sexually active at younger ages than whites or Hispanics.

A-18 / 370 TABLE 1.5 Cumulative Percentage Of Women And Men Under 20 Who Ever Had Intercourse, By Age, Race And Study, United States, 1938 to 1984 , Females Study Males Year Age White Black White Black Kinsey, Pomeroy 1938-50 13 1 -- 14.8 & Martin, 1948 14 2 -- 27.8 Kinsey, Pomeroy, 15 3 -- 38.8 Martin & Gebhard, 16 7 -- 51.6 1953, U.S. 17 -- -- 61.3 18 -- -- 68.2 19 -- -- 71.5 20 20 -- 73.1 Vener & Stewart, 1970 13 10 -- 24 1974; Michigan, 14 10 -- 21 School B 15 13 -- 26 Sample, 16 23 -- 31 Tables 4 & 5 17+ 27 -- 38 TOTAL 16 -- 28 1973 13' 10 -- 28 14 17 -- 32 -- 15 24 -- 38 16 31 -- 38 17+ 35 -- 34 TOTAL 22 -- 33 Miller & Simon 1971 14-15 5.3 -- 7.8 1974, Illinois 16-17 21.7 -- 20.9 Table 3 TOTAL 13.0 -- 14.0 Sorenson, 1973 1972 13-15 30 44 Table 404, U.S. 16-19 57 72 TOTAL 45 59 Simon, Berger & 1967 It 18 7 -- 25 Gaznon, 1972 18 19 -- 36 Table III (College 19 30 -- 63 Youth, U.S.) __ __ Jessor & Jessor 1975, Colorado Table 1 1972 Grade 10 26 11 40 12 55 21 28 -- 33 Udry, 1980 Raleigh, NC 1978 13 6.1 35.0 27.0 69.8 Tallahassee, FL 1980 14 11.0 39.3 28.8 75.9 Zabin el al, 1984 1981-82 It 16 34.8 54.0 65.9 83.3 Inner city Baltimore, 16+ 59.9 80.3 76.8 93.1 Source: Refer to references at the end of text.

A—19 / 371 TABLE 1. 5 Table 1.5 presents cumulative percentage distributions of women and men under age 20 who ever had intercourse by age, race and study for the United States f rom 1938 to 1964. This table shows both the trends over t ime in adolescent sexual activity and var iations and consistencies in sample estimates.

A-20 / 372 TABLE 1.6 Percent of Sexually Experienced Never- Married Women Aged 15-19 Who Had Intercourse Only Once, by Age and Race, 1976 Race White Black Age All ~ N % N 15-19 14.8 14.3 379 12.7 410 15-17 19.9 18.4 206 18.4 217 18-19 8.6 9.3 173 6.2 193 _ . . Source: M. Zelnik and J.T. Kantner, "Sexual and Contracept ive Exper fence of Young Unmar r fed Women in the United States 1976 and 19 71. " Family Planning Perspectives 9, 1977. Reprinted by permission.

A-21 / 373 TABLE 1.6 Table 1.6 shows the percent of a sample of sexually experienced never-married women aged 15 to 19 in 1976 who had only had sexual intercourse once. Data are from the 1976 National Survey of Young Women (NSYW). Among sexually experienced never-married 15- to 19-year old women, nearly 15 percent had sexual intercourse only once. About 20 percent of women aged 15 to 17 and fewer than 10 percent of women ages 18 to 19 reported having had intercourse only one time. There were no substantial differences by race. -

A—22 / 374 TABLE 1. 7 Frequency Of Sexual Intercourse Among Unmarried Females 15 To 24 Who Ever Had Intercourse By Race, 1982 National Survey Of Family Growth Age Fr equency of Intercourse 15-17 18-19 15-19 20-24 A 11 Races* Total ever having 100. 09 100. 0% 100. 0% 100. 0% intercourse (N=295) (N=4 73) {N=768) (N=626) No intercour se in last 3 months 18.3 17. 9 18. 1 24 .3 Once a month 20. 7 13 . 5 16.4 14 . 2 2-3 times a month 27.9 23.0 25.0 22.3 Once a week 21.4 20.6 20.9 18.5 More than twice per week 9. 8 20. 7 16.3 19.3 Daily 1.9 4.3 3.3 1.4 \ White Total ever having 100. 0% 100. 0% 100. 0% 100. 0% i nte rcou r se (N= 14 6 ~ (N= 17 5 ~ (N=3 21) (N=3 67 No intercour se in last 3 months 21.0 20.5 20.7 27. ~ Once a month 14. 5 11.1 12 .4 14. 5 2-3 times a month 29.2 20. 8 24.1 20.5 Once a week 23 .2 20.7 21.6 17.0 More than twice per week 10. 8 22 .0 17. 6 19.3 Daily 1.3 4.9 3.6 0.0 Black - Total ever having 100. 0% 100. 0% 100. 0% 100. 0% inte rcour se (N= 146 ~ (N=2 91) (N=437 ~ (N=2 50 No intercou r se in last 3 months 11. 8 7. 5 9. 5 15.0 Once a month 39.5 23.0 30.8 12.6 2-3 times a month 24 .9 29.4 27.2 29. 8 Once a week 13 .3 21. 0 17.4 21.3 More than twice per week 7.2 16.9 12.3 18.8 Daily 3.3 2.2 2.7 2. 5 *Includes Blacks, White and other. pe rcentage . Other category too small to Source: Special Tabulations f rom the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth, Cycle III, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics' DHHS.

A-23 / 375 TABLE 1.7 Table 1.7 presents the percentage distributions of unmarried fe- males aged IS to 24 who ever had sexual intercourse by race according to frequency of intercourse. These data are from the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth. (NSFG) Overall, 18.1 percent of sexually experienced female teenagers reported that they had not had intercourse in the three months prior to the interview, 20.7 percent of whites and 9.5 percent of blacks. The young teenagers, aged 15 to 17, were somewhat less likely to have had sexual intercourse twice per week or more frequently than older teenagers.

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A-25 / 377 TABLE 1.8 The percentage distribution of a sample of women by race and by total number of premarital sexual partners as of the survey date is shown for 1971, 1976 and 1979 in Table 1.8. The percent of women who had had only one premarital sexual partner was lower in 1979 than in 1976 or 1971, 49 compared to 53 and 62 percent respectively. The largest difference was for black women. In 1971, 60 percent of the black women had had only one premarital sexual partner, while in 1979 about 40 percent of the black women had had only one premarital sexual partner. There was about an 11 percent age point decline in the number of white women who had had one partner in 1971 compared to 1979, 62 versus 51 percent. Although in all years white teenagers were more likely than black teenagers to have had only one nonmarital sexual partner, they were slightly more likely than blacks to have had 6 or more such partners.

A-26 / 378 TABLE 1.9 Percentage Distribution Of Women Aged 15-19 And Of Men Aged 17-21, By Relationship With Their F irst Sexual Partner `, According To Race, 19 7 9, Met ropol itan U . S . Women Men Relationship With Total White Black Total White Black First Partner (N=936) (N=478) (N=458) (N=670) (N=396) (N=274) Engaged 9.3 9.6 8.2 0.6 0.5 1.0 Going steady 55.2 57.6 46.5 36.5 39.2 21.9 Dating 24 .4 22.2 32.6 20.0 20.2 19.0 Friends 6.7 6.0 9.4 33.7 30.2 52.4 Recently met 4 .4 4 . 6 3 . 3 9. 3 9. 9 5. 7 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100. 0 Source: M. Zelnik and F.K. Shah, "First Intercourse Among Young Americans, " Family Planning Perspectives, 15 (2) (March/April), 1983. Rep r inted by pe rmiss ion. \

A-27 / 379 TABLE I. 9 Table 1. 9 shows the percentage distribution of women aged 15 to 19 and of men aged 17 to 21 by their relationship with their f irst sexual partner by race. Data are f rom the National Survey of Young Women (NSYW) for metropolitan areas only in 197 9. Among the women, over 8 5 percent of the white and black women were engaged, going steady, or dating their first sexual partners. Only 4. 6 percent of the white women and 3.3 percent of the black women had recently met their first sexual partners. Among males, however, 40 percent of the white men and 58 percent of the black men said that their f irst sexual partners were friends or someone they had just recently met.

A-28 / 38 0 TABLE 1.10 Percentage Distribution Of Women Aged 15-19 And Of Men Aged 17-21, By Relationship With Their First Sexual Partner, According To Age At First Intercourse, 1979, Metropolitan U. S. Women Men Relationship With <15 15-17 18+ <15 15-17 18+ First Partner (N=273) (N=55S) (N=103) (N=305) (N=294) (N=64) Engaged 3.9 6.8 18.7 0.4 0.8 0.0 Going steady 44.4 61.9 46.1 20.0 46.2 47.9 Dating 28.9 21. 6 29.0 18. 6 22.4 12.6 Friends 13.2 4.3 5.4 54.4 20.0 26.7 Recently met 9. 6 3.4 0. 8 6. 6 10. 6 12.8 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Source: M. Zelnik and F.K. Shah, "First Intercourse Among Young Americans," Family Planning_ Perspectives, 15 (2) (March/April), 19830 Repr inted by permission.

A-29 / 3 81 TABLE 1. 10 Table 1.10 shows the percentage distribution of women aged 15 to 19 and of men aged 17 to 21 by relationship with their first sexual partner according to age at first intercourse. Data are from the National Survey of Young Women (NSYW) for metropolitan areas only in 1979. Among women, teenagers who were younger at first intercourse (less than 17 years) were more likely to have recently met and less likely to be engaged to their f irst partner than teenage women who had f irst in- tercourse at age 18 or 19. Among males, however, those who first had sexual intercourse at age 18 to 21 were more likely to have recently met their first partner than males who first had intercourse under age 18.

A—30 / 38 2 TABLE 1.11 Percentage Distribution Of Locale Of First Premarital Intercourse, Women Aged 15-19, By Race, 1976 And 1979, Metropolitan U.S. . . 19 76 1979 Total White Black Total White Black Loc ale (N=7 13 ) (N=3 45 ) (N=3 6 8 ) (N=9 2 3 ) (N=4 6 9 ) (N=4 54 ) Respondent' s home 17. 6 16.2 21.2 18. 5 17. 9 20. 7 Partner's home 43.5 43.8 43.1 49.2 48.4 51.7 Home of relative/ 21.1 21.5 20.2 12.3 12.6 11.5 friend Motel/hotel 5. 5 3 .3 11. 5 4 .2 2 .2 11. 7 Car 7.1 8.9 2.0 8.9 10.6 2.7 Elsewhere 5.2 6.3 2.0 6.9 8.3 1.7 Source: M. Zelnik, "Sexual Activity Among Adolescents: Perspective of a Decade," In E.R. McAnarey (Ed.), Premature Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenthood. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1983. Reprinted by permission.

A-31 / 383 TABLE 1. 11 Table 1.11 shows the percentage distr ibution of the location of f irst nonmar ital intercourse for women aged 15 to 19 by race. The data are f rom the National Survey of Young Women (NSYW) for 1976 and 19 79, metropolitan areas only. For the majority, over three-quarters, in both 1976 and 1979, of all the women aged 15-19 who had a first premarital intercourse, the location was the home of the respondent, the partner or a friend or relative. In both years, black women were more likely than white women to first have sexual intercourse in a motel/hotel. For white women the location of first premarital intercourse was more likely to be a car or elsewhere than for black women. The partner' s home was twice as likely to be the location of first intercourse as the young women's home.

A-32 / 384 TABLE 1.12 Estimated Cummulative Percent Ever Experiencing Sexual Intercourse By Single Year of Age, Race, Ethnicity1 And Mother's Education, 1983, National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Males Respondent's Mother's Education2 Females Age* <HS = HS >HS < HS = HS >HS — _ Total Sample 15 23.9 13.7 12.0 7.3 4.7 3.3 16 38.0 24.8 23.0 16.9 10.2 10.4 17 57.9 43.8 40.6 34.6 ~ 23.7 21.4 18 72.4 61.8 55.6 53.7 40.5 34.1 19 83.S 77.6 68.7 71.8 61.4 50.5 20 87.6 82.8 76.5 81.3 73.4 60.8 N 1808 1878 790 1975 1791 756 Whites 15 18.5 9.9 9.7 6.3 4.5 3.2 16 31.2 20.4 20.6 15.9 9.2 10.5 17 52.8 40.0 37.2 33.6 22.6 20.2 18 68.6 58.8 52.9 53.5 39.1 31.9 19 81.3 75.8 66.4 72.4 59.9 48.5 20 85.7 91.5 \74.9 82.0 72.4 59.0 N 814 1359 592 883 1288 577 Blacks - 15 42.8 43.7 12.0 6.8 16 62.7 58.0 23.2 16.1 17 79.3 76.3 44.0 33.8 18 87.7 85.1 63.2 53.9 19 93.0 92.5 80.1 72.0 20 94.5 94.0 87.2 80.6 N 541 S25 595 499 Hispanics 15 20.8 16.1 4.8 2.9 16 32.2 29.0 12.2 8.~ 17 49.6 46.7 24.3 19.4 18 66.9 65.5 39.0 38.9 19 79.3 76.5 55.8 62. a 20 86.0 79.9 68.0 70.E N 453 192 496 183 Note: Sample is limited to respondents age 20 and over at 1983 survey date. *Percentages refer to birthday for specified ages, e.g., 15 means by 15th birthday or end of age 14. 1Hispanic persons may be of any race. 2Education is defined as less than High School, completing High School or more than High School(not available for Blacks and Hispanics). Source: Special Tabulations from the 1983 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University.

A-33 / 385 TABLE 1.12 Table 1.12 shows cumulative estimates of sexual activity by single year of age and mother's education in 1983 for a national sample of youths. Data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLS). In general, the lower the mother's educational level, the lower the respondent's age at becoming sexually active. For the total sample, more than half (57. 9 percent) of the males whose mothers had less than high school educations and about two fifths of the males whose mothers had a high school education or more than a high school education were sexually active by age 17 (43.8 and 40.6 percent). Slightly over a third of the females whose mothers had less than high school educations (34.6 percent) and less than one quarter of the females whose mothers had a high school education or more (23.7 and 21.4 percent) were sexually active by age 17. Black males were more likely to be sexually active by age 20 than whites and Hispanics and, Hispanic males were as likely to be as sexually active white males by age 20, regardless of mother's educa- tion. Black females were more likely to be sexually active by age 20 than whites and Hispanics regardless of mother's education.

A-34 / 386 TABLE 1.13 Cumulative Sexual Activity By Single Year Of Age And By Drop Out Rate Of Respondent's High School, 1979 From National Longitudinal Survey Of Youth Drop-Out Rate of Respondent's High School, 1979 Males Females Age* LO (<10%) HI (10%+) LO (<10%) HI (10%+) Total Sample 15 10.7 18.8 3.4 5.1 16 21.5 31.5 9.2 12.8 17 40.7 50.4 20.6 28.4 18 59.1 65.8 36.5 45.1 19 73.4 79.4 55.5 64.6 20 81.0 82.8 68.3 75.4 N 1387 1454 1441 1523 Whites 15 8.4 13.5 3.2 4.2 16 17.9 26.1 8.9 11.5 17 37.3 45.4 19.9 26.1 18 56.5 61.9 35.4 41.9 19 71.7 77.4 55.5 61.9 20 79.7 80.7 67.5 73.8 N 998 762 1053 806 Blacks 15 35.6 45.2 6.4 8.6 16 58.3 59.3 13.6 18.5 17 73.9 77.0 28.1 40.6 18 83.9 86.1 48.8 62.3 19 91.4 92.1 68.1 80.0 20 92.8 94.4 78.5 86.3 N 268 411 268 447 Hispanics 15 9.8 19.2 .4 5.9 16 26.6 29.6 5.5 12.6 17 47.5 46.8 17.9 23.1 18 64.7 63.4 34.3 36.4 19 76.1 74.4 52.3 55.4 20 84.2 80.3 63.5 66.3 N 121 281 120 270 Note: Sample is limited to respondents age 20 and over at 1983 survey date. *Percentages refer to birthday for specified ages, e.g., 15 means by 15th birthday or end of age 14. 1Hispanic Persons may be of any race. Source: Special Tabulations from the 1983 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University.

A—35 / 387 TABLE 1. 13 - Table 1.13 presents data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth on cumulative sexual activity by single year of age and the drop out rate in the respondent's high school. In general, the percent sexually active by age 20 was higher among respondents who attended schools with high dropout rates (greater than 10 percent) compared to respondents who attended schools with low drop- out rates ( 10 percent or lower) . Again, the inc idence of sexual activity was greater among black males and females regardless of the dropout rate in the respondent's high school. I t should be noted that high school d cookout rates may be a conse- quence of levels of sexual activity as well as a measure of the com- mun ity context. (

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More than 1 million teenage girls in the United States become pregnant each year; nearly half give birth. Why do these young people, who are hardly more than children themselves, become parents? The statistical appendices for the report Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing provide additional insight into the trends in teenage sexual behavior.

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