Teenagers in the United States: Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use, and Childbearing, 2002

Abma, Joyce C.; Martinez, Gladys; Mosher, William D.; Dawson, Brittany S

doi:10.1037/e609162007-001

Cited by 383 publications

(508 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

475

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Indeed, Brückner & Bearman showed that Add Health pledgers were as likely as nonpledgers were to use condoms at their most recent intercourse [9]. Still, failure to use a condom at first sex is important, as the risk of teen pregnancy is considerably higher among those who do not use condoms at first sex [32].Our study also sheds new light on the characteristics that distinguish pledgers from nonpledgers. Compared to youth who do not pledge, pledgers are more strongly religious, their parents more closely monitor their behavior, their friends and parents are more often opposed to their having sex, they are more likely to join clubs and participate in community activities, they are less likely to expect that having sex will lead to positive consequences, and they have lower sex self-efficacy.…”

mentioning

confidence: 71%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Virginity Pledges Among the Willing: Delays in First Intercourse and Consistency of Condom Use

Martino

Elliott

Collins

et al. 2008

Journal of Adolescent Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose-We examine longitudinal relationships between virginity pledging in adolescence and both sexual initiation and condom use. Prior studies have had mixed results and may not adequately control for pre-pledge differences between pledgers and non-pledgers.Methods-Data came from a national sample of 12-17 year olds surveyed in 2001 and reinterviewed 1 and 3 years later. Logistic regression models estimated the association between making a pledge and each outcome. Selection bias was reduced through propensity-score weighting and a rich set of demographic and psychosocial covariates.Results-Pledgers and non-pledgers differed substantially in pre-existing characteristics. However, after propensity-weighting and statistical controls, pledging was still associated with delayed intercourse. We estimate that in the absence of pledging 42.4% of virgins with characteristics indicating an inclination to pledge initiate intercourse within 3 years; in the presence of the pledge, 33.6%of such youth initiate intercourse. Among those who had sex during this period, pledging was unassociated with condom use. Among those who did not have sex during this period, pledging was unassociated with engagement in noncoital sexual behavior.Conclusions-Making a virginity pledge appears to be an effective means of delaying sexual intercourse initiation among those inclined to pledge without influencing other sexual behavior; pledging does not appear to affect sexual safety among pledgers who fail to remain abstinent.Nearly 800,000 teenagers become pregnant in the U.S. each year [1] and half of the approximately 19 million new STD infections diagnosed annually are among youth 15 to 24 years old [ 2]. Unplanned pregnancies and STDs are more common among those who begin sexual activity earlier [3]. Delaying sexual activity might therefore have important public health consequences.One approach to delaying sexual activity is the virginity pledge -a public declaration to abstain from sex until marriage. The first virginity pledge program was True Love Waits, founded by the Southern Baptist Church in 1993. The movement has since grown to include hundreds of churches, schools, and colleges across the country. Among adolescents in the United States, it is estimated that 23% of females and 16% of males have made a virginity pledge [4]. From a theoretical perspective, pledging may work by enhancing social norms to abstain from sex [ 5]; pledgers may believe, more so than others, that they will be held responsible to their peers or important adults to follow through on their public commitment.Correspondence regarding this manuscript can be sent to Steven C. Martino, RAND, 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2665. Tel: 412-683-2300, ext. 4629. Fax: 412-683-2800 Through processes of cognitive dissonance or self-perception [6][7], pledging may also lead youth to internalize the commitment or values expressed in the pledge.Although these programs may delay sex, those who make a virginity pledge but fail to keep it may actually i...

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 71%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virginity Pledges Among the Willing: Delays in First Intercourse and Consistency of Condom Use

Martino

Elliott

Collins

et al. 2008

Journal of Adolescent Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Teen childbearing is believed to be influenced by a different set of decisions than is adult fertility (Levine 2001). Many teens are deciding whether to initiate sexual activity, or whether to initiate sex within the context of their current relationship (Abma et al 2010), whereas adults are typically sexually active. As a result, teens have three behavioral margins through which to react to economic news (sexual activity, contraception, and abortion), while the vast majority of adults have only two (contraception and abortion).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community-Wide Job Loss and Teenage Fertility: Evidence From North Carolina

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using North Carolina data for the period 1990-2010, we estimate the effects of economic downturns on the birthrates of 15-to 19-year-olds, using county-level business closings and layoffs as a plausibly exogenous source of variation in the strength of the local economy. We find little effect of job losses on the white teen birthrate. For black teens, however, job losses to 1 % of the working-age population decrease the birthrate by around 2 %. Birth declines start five months after the job loss and then last for more than one year. Linking the timing of job losses and conceptions suggests that black teen births decline because of increased terminations and perhaps also because of changes in prepregnancy behaviors. National data on risk behaviors also provide evidence that black teens reduce sexual activity and increase contraception use in response to job losses. Job losses seven to nine months after conception do not affect teen birthrates, indicating that teens do not anticipate job losses and lending confidence that job losses are "shocks" that can be viewed as quasi-experimental variation. We also find evidence that relatively advantaged black teens disproportionately abort after job losses, implying that the average child born to a black teen in the wake of job loss is relatively more disadvantaged.

show abstract

“…5 Ten percent of young women who had first had sex in their teenage years reported that their first time was involuntary, and the younger they were, the more likely that was the case. 6 content, yet only 14% of sexual incidents mention any risks or responsibilities of sexual activity. 8,9 Talk about sex on TV can occur as often as 8 to 10 times per hour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media

Strasburger¹

2010

Pediatrics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

From a health viewpoint, early sexual activity among US adolescents is a potential problem because of the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. New evidence points to the media adolescents use frequently (television, music, movies, magazines, and the Internet) as important factors in the initiation of sexual intercourse. There is a major disconnect between what mainstream media portray-casual sex and sexuality with no consequences-and what children and teenagers need-straightforward information about human sexuality and the need for contraception when having sex. Television, film, music, and the Internet are all becoming increasingly sexually explicit, yet information on abstinence, sexual responsibility, and birth control remains rare. It is unwise to promote "abstinence-only" sex education when it has been shown to be ineffective and when the media have become such an important source of information about "nonabstinence." Recommendations are presented to help pediatricians address this important issue. Pediatrics 2010;126:576-582 INTRODUCTIONEarly sexual activity among teenagers can be problematic. According to the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 46% of all high school seniors have had sexual intercourse, and 14% have had 4 partners or more. 1 Although pregnancy rates have generally been decreasing since 1991, the United States still has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the Western world, 2 and for the first time in 15 years, the birth rate increased 3% from 2005 to 2006. 3 Early intercourse also increases the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI), including HIV, and adolescents have one of the highest STI rates of any age group. 4 Although 15-to 24-year-olds account for only one-quarter of the sexually active population in the United States, they contract nearly half of all new STIs every year. 4 A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that 1 in 4 teenagers has had an STI. 5 Ten percent of young women who had first had sex in their teenage years reported that their first time was involuntary, and the younger they were, the more likely that was the case. 6 WHAT CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS LEARN FROM THE MEDIAAmerican children and teenagers spend more than 7 hours/day with a variety of different media. 7 Those media are filled with sexual messages and images, many of which are unrealistic. 2 On television (TV), which remains the predominant medium in terms of time spent for all young people, more than 75% of prime-time programs contain sexual THE COUNCIL ON COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

show abstract

Teenagers in the United States: Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use, and Childbearing, 2002

Abstract: Methods-In-person interviews using laptop computers. Among the total sample of males and females 15-44 were 1,150 females and 1,121 males aged 15-19. Response rate for teenagers was 81 percent.

Cited by 383 publications

References 0 publications

Virginity Pledges Among the Willing: Delays in First Intercourse and Consistency of Condom Use

Virginity Pledges Among the Willing: Delays in First Intercourse and Consistency of Condom Use

Community-Wide Job Loss and Teenage Fertility: Evidence From North Carolina

Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About