De-Laid

Amidst the Clinton sex scandal of the late 1990s, something interesting happened: Kids started having less sex, and the sex they had was more likely to involve contraception.

Even more amazing, girls surpassed boys in sexual behavior.

From the Washington Post:

“The report examining youth behavior found that more young men in particular have postponed sex — 46 percent were sexually active in 2002, compared with 55 percent in 1995 — and that 91 percent of those who had sex in the previous three months used contraception.

“For the first time since the government began the National Survey of Family Growth in 1973, more girls (47 percent) say they have had sex than boys (46 percent). Girls also report a high rate of contraceptive use — 83 percent.

“In many cases, researchers found, teens are using two types of contraception, such as the pill and a condom, to reduce the likelihood of pregnancy and of getting a sexually transmitted disease such as AIDS.”

Not bad for a third-world country

Although the trends are heading in the right direction, it helps to put them in context:

“Some of the most dramatic improvement has come in the area of teen pregnancy. In 1991, 62 of every 1,000 American girls ages 15 to 19 gave birth. A decade later, the teen birth rate fell to 43 per 1,000.

“Even so, U.S. teen birth rates remain among the highest in the developed world. Canada’s teen birth rate in 2002 was 20 per 1,000, and in France it was 8 per 1,000.

“There are many theories for the lower rates in other countries, Kirby said, including wider availability of medical services and health information, less societal division over sex education, and a higher poverty rate among U.S. youth.”

With our country’s rising poverty rate, with more of our citizens cut off from health care, and with a strong movement against sex education, it’s hard to imagine these positive trends continuing.

Tags: Tags: sex