United Press International - September 26, 2002
Steve Mitchell, UPI Medical Correspondent

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a 16 percent decrease in adolescents who reported ever having engaged in sex and a 24 percent decrease in those reporting four or more sexual partners. Condom use increased from 1991 to 1999 and then leveled off, Laura Kann, the agency's chief of research for the division of adolescent and school health, told United Press International.

However, the overall rate of sexually active teens did not decline and there still are kids engaging in behavior that puts them at risk of pregnancy and acquiring sexually transmitted diseases, Kann said. She noted there was an 18 percent increase in students who engaged in sex after using alcohol or drugs and many sexually active adolescents are not using condoms.

The data were collected from self-reported surveys of more than 10,000 students in grades 9-12 from 1991 through 2001. Kann said the decline in risky sexual behavior correlates with declines in gonorrhea, pregnancy and birth rates among teens. No single reason explains the decrease in risky behavior, she said, and it is likely due to combined efforts of parents, schools, community organizations and government agencies.

The risky behavior decrease may be attributed in part to an increase in sex education in school, CDC officials said, commenting on the study in the September 27 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a medical journal published by the agency.

"The percentage of high school students who received HIV-prevention education in school increased from 83 percent in 1991 to 92 percent in 1997," the commentary said. "Efforts to prevent sexual risk behaviors will need to be intensified ... to sustain decreases in gonorrhea, pregnancy, and birth rates among adolescents; and to reduce HIV infections and other STDs among young persons."

Specific interventions are needed to reduce the rate of kids engaging in sex after drug use, they added.

"There is no simple solution ... We need to provide youth with the skills and motivations to avoid risky behaviors," Kann said. This will require the input of families, schools, community and the youths themselves, she said. The kids need to be taught that they can choose not to have sex "but if they choose to do so then they need to know how to protect themselves," she said.

"It's important to stress abstinence ... but we can't end the conversation there," Bill Albert, spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, told UPI. "Over 60 percent of teens have had sex at least once by the time they have left high school," he said, and those sexually active teens need access to contraception. "This is not an 'either or' situation," he said. "It's abstinence and contraception."
020926
UP020909

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2002. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2002. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .