Teen Sexuality and Pregnancy - Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Adolescents and young adults have a higher risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) than older adults. Female adolescents may have an increased susceptibility to chlamydia, a bacterial infection that can cause pelvic inflammatory disease and is a contributing factor in the transmission of HIV. In 2002 chlamydia was the most common sexually transmitted disease among adolescents. It was also more common in adolescents than in any other age group, with 2,619.1 cases among every one hundred thousand fifteen- to nineteen-year-old girls. This group also had the highest rates of gonorrhea infection, although the rate of gonorrhea among fifteen- to nineteen-year-olds had decreased from 542.4 per one hundred thousand in 1998 to 476.4 per one hundred thousand in 2002. Syphilis was far less common in teens, with only 2.3 cases per one hundred thousand reported in 2000. As Figure 7.4 shows, African-American non-Hispanic teens had much higher rates of STDs than white non-Hispanic teens.

A 2004 study emphasized that half of all new HIV infections in the United States are diagnosed in people under twenty-five years old (Kathleen J. Sikkema et al., "HIV Risk Behavior among Ethnically Diverse Adolescents Living in Low-Income Housing Developments," Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 35, 2004). Most of these young people become infected through sexual activity. The authors found that the risk of HIV infection was highest among older adolescents who believed their partners did not see a need to practice safer sex and among teens who abused drugs and alcohol. The researchers suggested that study results could be used to design prevention programs for those adolescents most at risk.

Another 2004 study in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine tested whether parental involvement had any impact on rates of STDs among low-income African-American adolescent girls (J. A. Bettinger et al., "Does Parental Involvement Predict New Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Female Adolescents?"). Researchers found that when these high-risk teens perceived their parents as exercising a high degree of supervision over their activities, they had lower rates of both gonorrhea and chlamydia infection.