CDC presents estimates of sexual activity, contraceptive use for teens

In 2015 to 2019, 40.5 and 38.7 percent of never-married female and male teenagers had ever had vaginal intercourse with an opposite-sex partner, according to a study published online Dec. 14 in the National Health Statistics Reports, a publication from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Joyce C. Abma, Ph.D., and Gladys M. Martinez, Ph.D., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, present national estimates of sexual activity and contraceptive use among males and females ages 15 to 19 years in the United States. Data were obtained from interviews conducted with 21,441 males and females, including 3,812 teenagers (1,894 females and 1,918 males) between September 2015 and September 2019 from the National Survey of Family Growth.

The researchers found that 40.5 percent of never-married female teenagers and 38.7 percent of never-married male teenagers had ever had vaginal intercourse with an opposite-sex partner in 2015 to 2019. This percentage was stable across time points for females, but for males, the percentage decreased from 45.7 percent in 2002 and 44.2 percent in 2011 to 2015.

Use of any contraception at first sex increased across the four time points for male teens, from 82.0 percent in 2002 to 92.1 percent in 2015 to 2019; no consistent trend was seen for female teens. At first sex, 77.3 percent of female teenagers used a method of contraception in 2015 to 2019. Among female teenagers, there was an increase in ever-use of long-acting reversible contraception, from 5.8 percent in 2011 to 2015 to 19.2 percent in 2015 to 2019.

"Contraceptive use among sexually experienced teenagers remains common," the authors write. "The 2015 to 2019 data showed that 98.9 percent of female teenagers had ever used a method of contraception, similar to the percentage in 2002 (97.7 percent)."

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