Teen Sexuality and the Social Impact
This year ten million teenagers will perform 126 million acts of sexual
intercourse. In 1988, by the age of fifteen, 27% of unmarried young women
had sexual intercourse and by the age of nineteen, 75% of women had intercourse
at least once. Moreover, teenage sexual activity has been steadily increasing.
For example, from 1982 to 1988 the rate for fifteen year old girls has
increased from 19% to 27%. In 1993, 32% of ninth grade girls, ages 13
to 14, have had intercourse and about 7% of female high school seniors
have had four or more sexual partners. America is not plagued by sex-crazed
teenage women — their male counterparts are just as active. In 1989,
33% of males by the age of fifteen, 50% by sixteen, and 86% by nineteen
have had intercourse. Overall, the average age for intercourse is getting
lower and the number of partners is increasing.
There is a large ethnic variance in the rates of sexual activity among
teenagers. Prior to 1989, 81% Black males, 60% Hispanic males, and 57%
White males, ages 15 to 19, had intercourse at least once. Female rates
are: 61%, 49%, and 52% respectively. The rates have increased since the
recording of this information. Likewise, the average age for first intercourse
varies over ethnic and social situations. The average age for first intercourse
for a white male is 15.9 years old, while for a black male, it is 14.4
years old. A 1981 study showed that the average age for first intercourse
for an urban black was 11.8 years old. The date of the study suggests
that the average age has probably gone down.
It is important to note though that the bulk of the increase of teenage
pregnancies in the United States is not due to urban conditions or the
sexual behavior of ethnic minorities. While these groups have a higher
than average pregnancy rate, their rates have leveled off and their small
number does not greatly influence the national rate. Teenagers living
at the poverty rate or up to 200% over the poverty rate are primarily
responsible for the large increase in the national rate. This increase
suggests that the principal explanation of the relatively high pregnancy
rate in the United States is from factors that influence the entire country,
and not specific groups.
This high rate of teenage sexual behavior involves great social costs.
Each year, more than one million teenagers will become pregnant (1,014,620
were reported in 1987). By the age of eighteen, about one in four young
women (23%) will become pregnant and by the age of twenty, the rate increases
to over four in ten (44%). Sadly, 92% of all pregnancies among unmarried
teenagers are unintended. Furthermore, one in five teenagers who experience
pregnancy will become pregnant again within the next year. The rate of
a second pregnancy occurring two years after a pregnancy increases to
a little over three in ten. Teenagers are becoming unintendedly pregnant
at a higher rate than any other group of women.
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