No abstract

The prevalence of sexual activity among never-married U.S. teenage women increased by 30 percent between 1971 and 1976; so that by age 19, 55 percent have had sexual intercourse. The increase, which has occurred at all ages and among all races, has been accompanied by a dramatic increase in the use of contraception, the use of the most effective methods, and the more regular use of all methods. Nevertheless, few teenagers begin use of contraception at the same time that they initiate intercourse--and many wait until after they have experienced pregnancy.

In 1979, 50 percent of women aged 15-19 and 70 percent of men aged 17-21 living in metropolitan areas of the United States reported that they had ever had sexual intercourse. The average age at which young women had their first sexual experience was 16.2, compared with 15.7 among the men; women tended to have their first intercourse with a partner nearly three years older than themselves, whereas men had their first intercourse with a partner less than one year older. Blacks generally experienced first coitus at a younger age than did whites. Young women's first coitus generally occurred with someone toward whom the respondent felt a commitment; more than six in 10 young women said they had been going steady with or engaged to their first sexual partner. In contrast, fewer than four in 10 young men said that they had been engaged to or going steady with their first partner, and more than one in three said that they and their first partner had been friends. Young men were more than twice as likely as young women to have had first intercourse with someone they had only recently met. Seventeen percent of the young women and 25 percent of the young men surveyed said that they had planned their first intercourse; women who had been going steady with their first partner were most likely to have planned intercourse, while the young men who had met their first partner shortly before intercourse took place were the most likely to have planned the act.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

No abstract

Because of early age at initiation of intercourse and associated nonuse of contraception, half of first premarital pregnancies to teens occur in the first six months after they begin coitus; one-fifth occur in the first month. Programs to prevent adolescent pregnancy will not succeed unless they reach young people before they begin sexual activity.