Context: The formulation of policies and development of programs regarding
adolescent sexual and reproductive health requires up-to-date information o
n levels of and trends in teenage sexual activity.
Methods: Analysis of three NSFG surveys, carried out in 1982, 1988 and 1995
, allows examination of the sexual behavior of teenage women over a 13-year
time period, using comparable data for the entire time period.
Results: The proportion of adolescent women who ever had sexual intercourse
increased somewhat during the 1980s, but this upward trend stabilized betw
een the late 1980s and the mid-1990s. Throughout the period, there has been
little change in the proportion currently sexually active: In each of the
surveys, about 40% of all 15-19-year-olds had had sexual intercourse in the
last three months. The average number of months in the past year in which
sexually experienced teenagers had had intercourse declined during the 1980
s, with no change in the continuity of sexual intercourse taking place betw
een 1988 and 1995 when the mean remained at 8.6 months. Differences in teen
age sexual behavior across poverty and racial and ethnic subgroups were lar
ge in the early 1980s, but narrowed over the 13-year period.
Conclusions: Only continued monitoring will tell whether the patterns obser
ved during 1988-1995 signify a temporary leveling off in the trend toward i
ncreasing adolescent sexual activity, stability in behavior or the beginnin
gs of a decline. Nevertheless, the sustained level of initiation of sexual
activity during adolescence is by now a recognized pattern of behavior, and
is an important characteristic of the transition to adulthood in the Unite
d States.