Too Few Use Contraceptives
In its 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey the CDC found that almost two-thirds of sexually active teenagers (63%)
TABLE 7.2
| Percentage of high school students who had drunk alcohol or used drugs before last sexual intercourse1; were ever pregnant or got someone pregnant; and were taught about AIDS/HIV in school, by sex, race, ethnicity, and grade, 2003 | |||||||||
| Alcohol or drug use before last sexual intercourse | Had been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant | Taught in school about AIDS or HIV infection | |||||||
| Category | Female % |
Male % |
Total % |
Female % |
Male % |
Total % |
Female % |
Male % |
Total % |
| 1Among currently sexually active students. | |||||||||
| 2Non-Hispanic. | |||||||||
| SOURCE: "Table 46. Percentage of High School Students Who Had Drunk Alcohol or Used Drugs before Last Sexual Intercourse; Were Ever Pregnant or Got Someone Pregnant; and Were Taught about Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection in School, by Sex, Race/Ethnicity, and Grade," in "Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2003," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Surveillance Summaries: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 53, no. SS-02, May 21, 2004, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/SS/SS5302.pdf (accessed September 16, 2004) | |||||||||
| Race/ethnicity | |||||||||
| White2 | 23.6 | 30.5 | 26.8 | 2.8 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 90.6 | 90.1 | 90.3 |
| Black2 | 14.6 | 23.8 | 19.5 | 10.4 | 7.6 | 9.1 | 87.5 | 82.5 | 85.1 |
| Hispanic | 18.8 | 29.5 | 24.1 | 7.3 | 5.2 | 6.4 | 83.9 | 82.8 | 83.4 |
| Grade | |||||||||
| 9 | 23.9 | 24.7 | 24.4 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 85.4 | 83.2 | 84.3 |
| 10 | 23.1 | 30.5 | 26.8 | 5.0 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 90.5 | 88.0 | 89.2 |
| 11 | 21.0 | 28.8 | 24.7 | 5.3 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 89.7 | 88.9 | 89.3 |
| 12 | 17.6 | 33.5 | 25.2 | 7.6 | 4.7 | 6.2 | 90.3 | 90.3 | 90.3 |
| Total | 21.0 | 29.8 | 25.4 | 4.9 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 88.7 | 87.2 | 87.9 |
reported that they or their partners used condoms during their last sexual intercourse, up from 46.2% in 1991, when the CDC began tracking condom use. (See Table 7.1.) Young African-Americans reported the highest condom use (72.8%) among sexually active youth, up from 48% in 1991. Hispanic students reported the lowest rate of condom use (57.4%), but this was still significantly higher than the 1991 rate of 37.4%. Males (68.8%) were significantly more likely than females (57.4%) to report condom use. The use of condoms decreased from the ninth grade (69%) to the twelfth grade (57.4%), a period during which the frequency of sexual intercourse increased.
Among sexually active students nationwide in 2003, 17% reported they or their partners used birth control pills ("the Pill") prior to their last sexual intercourse. (See Table 7.1.) More white students (22.3%) reported using birth control pills than either Hispanic (11.2%) or African-American students (7.9%). This disparity may be due to the need for a prescription for birth control pills; white students tend to have greater access to medical care than minority students do. Birth control pill use increased between ninth (8.7%) and twelfth grade (22.6%).
A Decade of Tracking Teen Condom Use
CDC researchers noted in 2002 that an increase in condom use among teenagers at last intercourse from 1991 to 2001 was mirrored by a decrease in the percentages of high school students who had ever had intercourse or who had had multiple sex partners. Such safer sexual behaviors in turn corresponded to a decrease in gonorrhea, pregnancy, and birth rates among adolescents. The
FIGURE 7.3
CDC added that these "improvements in health outcomes probably resulted from the combined efforts of parents and families, schools, community organizations that serve young persons, healthcare providers, religious organizations
FIGURE 7.4
the media, and government agencies to reduce sexual risks among young persons."
Reasons for Use or Nonuse
Research indicates that adolescents' attitudes and beliefs about condoms determine whether or not they will use them. In 2000 the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation joined together with Seventeen magazine on a campaign called SexSmarts, which was designed "to provide young people with information and resources on sexual health issues." As part of the program, a survey of 519 teens ages twelve to seventeen was conducted in September 2000 on safe sex, including condoms and the Pill. Students were asked how important various factors were in choosing a method of birth control or protection. The three highest-ranking factors were pregnancy prevention (92%), HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted disease prevention (88%), and "what my partner wants to use" (83%).
The survey also showed that teens did not completely understand the importance of using condoms consistently to avoid sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. Eleven percent agreed with the statement "having sex without a condom every now and then is not that big of a deal," and 9% believed that "if you don't have a lot of partners you don't need to use condoms." More than one in five teens (22%) and one in four teenage females (25%) agreed with the statement "condoms break so often they are not worth using."
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