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Filed under: News, In The News, Weird But True, Sex, Education: Teens, Research Reveals: Teens, New In Pop Culture
About one third of teens aren't learning about contraception in schools. Credit: Getty Images
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's report from the National Survey of Family Growth, 97 percent of American teens say they received some formal sex education before the age of 18. But only two-thirds say they have been schooled in birth control methods, with boys left in the dark more than girls -- 62 percent of males compared with 70 percent of females received instruction on methods of birth control.
The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was based on face-to-face interviews with nearly 2,800 teenagers conducted in their homes from 2006 through 2008. Female interviewers from the University of Michigan asked the questions for the CDC.
"We wanted to update the facts on how many teens are getting formal instruction on sex education and how frequently," says report author Joyce Abma, Ph.D, a demographer with the National Center for Health Statistics, in a podcast released in conjunction with the report.
But Laura Lindberg, senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institude warns on CNN.com that even though the report shows a significant increase in sex ed from 2002, when 85 percent of teen girls and 83 percent of teen boys had received sex education, the survey changed its methodology, adding questions about HIV/AIDS that had not been asked before.
"We need to be very cautious when interpreting that because (the education) could be one hour of a discussion of a news article about AIDS in Africa," Lindberg tells CNN.com. "When you look at the key topics of STIs (sexually transmitted infections) and birth control, they are much too low. What skills have (these teens) learned? Do they know how to prevent AIDS? If you don't include those two pieces of information, it's not adequate education."
According to a separate CDC study released earlier this year from the National Survey of Family Growth (NFSG), the number of teenagers having sex hasn't changed much over the last eight years. It looked at trends in sexual activity, contraceptive use and attitudes towards pregnancy in unmarried teenagers, and found that there have not been significant changes since the last NFSG report in 2002.
At the same time, the report found the number of teen pregnancies has decreased 20 percent. So, though students are not being taught about birth control in school, they are using it. In particular, the number of teens who regularly use condoms has increased significantly over the past 10 years.
Based on data from a two-year period between 2006 and 2008, the NFSG study found more than 42 percent of teenage girls ages 15 to 19 -- or 4.3 million -- have had sex at least once. That number was 43 percent -- or 4.5 million -- for teenage boys. Nearly 30 percent of boys and girls surveyed have had two or more partners.
Teenage girls who were younger when they had their first sexual encounter were more likely to have more partners. And teens whose mothers had their first child as a teenager and, at 14, did not have both parents in the home, were more likely to be sexually active.
Related: Teen Pregnancies at Record Low In California
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ReaderComments (Page 3 of 8)
9-28-2010 @ 6:10PM
frank said...How about abstinance AND teaching kids how to take care of themselves if they decide to do it anyway? At least if they do, they'll have the knowledge to protect themselves.
9-28-2010 @ 7:50PM
Lizard of Oz said...Mary,
Research shows that kids who are taught only about abstinence delay sexual intercourse for only 6 months on the average. These kids then usually choose not to use birth control, resulting in a higher STD rate as well as higher unwanted pregnancy rates than those of kids who have received both abstinence plus birth control education.
Better to cover all angles and teach birth control as well as abstinence. Education is not just for immediate use: kids who abstain will often want birth control after they are married. It is difficult to find courses on sex education AFTER high school. (My mother-in-law had 9 kids within ten years; she was one of the first women on birth control pills!)
My daughter had a wonderful Sex Education program in 8th grade that taught all forms of birth control. Parents were required to participate: we were assigned brief written essays on our future expectations for our child both in life and sexually. We were assigned discussions with our child. We discussed our values. They made it easy for parents: we were not required to go to school; all assignments were very short. This program encouraged participation so that parents view was also important. This was a pre-packaged program that the school bought, so other schools could also participate.
My daughter used three kinds of contraception while dating, and limited her sexual partners to the two most serious relationships. She never suffered from the STDs, unwanted pregnancy or low self-esteem you mention. Since she married several years ago, she has been using two forms, no longer using the condom. She and her husband have decided to build financial security before having children.
I know five people who got pregnant during their ONE and ONLY unprotected sexual act. One of them had been a virgin.
Proper sex education can help kids have the lives they dream of rather than rather than having ONE unprepared night consign them to lifelong parenthood with the wrong partner or at the wrong time, or from having a permanent medical problem.
9-28-2010 @ 11:36PM
Sean said...JOJO... It’s not about breaking them in. I didn’t even say that! In fact, you’re the first one that brought it up (mind in the gutter) What I’m saying is that if you want to have sex for the first time after getting married expect it NOT to be as enjoyable because it’s most likely going to hurt. If you have some experience (with the same person mind you) before hand it may help make it more romantic. Maybe instead of ripping into my logic, you should actually think about what I’m saying.
9-28-2010 @ 8:30AM
okiepokie181 said...And how about teaching the kids about who can go to jail if they have underage sex?
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9-28-2010 @ 8:02PM
Liz said...okiepokie181, Great idea!
Many guys are permanently on the sex offender list and cannot be with their own children because they once chose to have sex with a willing female who was just a few years younger than them. One mistake can lead to a lifetime of hell.
Costly for them and very costly for taxpayers who pay for jailing and monitoring them. It costs $22,500 every year to keep someone in jail.
9-28-2010 @ 8:35AM
brian1russ said...Teens ARE going to have sex, it's just a question of when. If they do not know how to prevent pregnancy, they will do what Bristol did. Unprotected sex will almost always lead to pregnacy and without condoms, maybe STD's. If we don't protect our children with education, we are wrong. Our kids are smart and they know the difference between being taught about sex versus a parent condoning teen sex. We parents teach our values at HOME.....
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9-28-2010 @ 1:41PM
Stephen said..."Our kids are smart and they know the difference between being taught about sex versus a parent condoning teen sex"
"Smart" is too general a term, and that kids in general are keen on the differences you point to is hyperbolic. In truth, I am not so much worried about kids as I am about their parents' overly
permissive outlook on many issues relative to child rearing.
9-28-2010 @ 8:50AM
JEREMY said...I just read a story on another post about a schoolteacher who was a former prostitute. She's not proud of what she had to do pay her way through school ,and this is her way of giving back.
Maybe if there were more teachers like THIS lady,kids would be more aware of the dangers of unprotected sex.
Reply
9-28-2010 @ 8:57AM
lisac3333 said...Add Children should be vaccinated against pregnancies just as they are other diseases. Very few teenagers have enough self control or reasoning ability to make adult decisions. Heck, very few adults have the ability to make reasoning decisions on birth control and either give out the whine "I can't take birth control, it is dangerous for my body, getting pregnant, having a baby and spending the rest of your life and the child's life raising it IS NOT DANGEROUS????". Or the old "It makes me fat" ...Or, the hidden excuse, It will hold the boy or man I love to me for the rest of our lives. What???????Look around you ladies....Do you see any men staying with their "MAH BABIES MAMA????How many MAH BABIES MAMAS do most men have??????? It is hard for children to know the right thing to do when they go home to a Mother who has 7 children, all by different fathers and never married any of the men and probably don't know where those men are today. Vaccinations would solve the whole issue and would stop teen pregnancies. Nothing else will. We need to make a new law to arrest, convict or legally spay and neuter males and females who believe pregnancy is their career income, and for those men who have impregnated more than two females in their lifetimes and never married them and is walking about with another pregnant woman on his arm, arrest him, offer him 20 years or sterilization. That should get the jerk off the streets or at least ensure that he doesn't breed 50 children in his lifetime. Offer the same deal to the woman. 2 babies, no education, no means of support, mandatory sterilization or jail time. It is a waste of breath to talk to people who have no respect for babies and what it takes to have them and raise them. Vaccination would solve the whole thing
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9-28-2010 @ 9:15AM
Ash said...you know who else wanted mandatory vaccinations? yeah, hitler. i kinda want to vaccinate you so you can't procreate and spread this ignorant ridiculousness to your children. God help them. You can't take away basic human rights just because you don't like how many kids a person has or the way they're being raised. if we start doing that we might as well have just stayed the hell out of the holocaust and let hitler breed and raise some kids who think the exact same way he, and you, do. Hatred and judgement do no good for anyone. ONE LOVE!!!
9-28-2010 @ 9:17AM
momoftwo said...Are you psychotic? Vaccinate people against pregnancy? I hate to break it to you, but pregnancy is not a disease. How could someone be vaccinated against it?
9-28-2010 @ 9:45AM
Geoff said...You have to be out of your freakin mind lady. Not every guy leaves his child if he and the girl are not married, it depends on personal upbringing. I have a beautiful 10 month old daughter that was born my last year of college. I was 23 at the time and am proud to say that her mother and I are in a deeply committed relationship and live together raising the baby as a team like parents should do. We joke a lot saying she is a baby mama and milf and we are comfortable with it because we know we are doing the right thing. Oh yeah, and like you probably think too, race is a big difference in people with kids, race has no part of whether a guy will leave the woman or stand by her with the baby.
9-28-2010 @ 10:00AM
Libby said...So...pregnancy is a disease?? That is, by far, one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard!
9-28-2010 @ 10:00AM
Sean said...Believe it or not, you make a very valid point, there are lots of fathers who leave there partners once they’re pregnant, but not EVERYONE does it. Your idea of a “vaccination” or maybe sterilization already exists in the form of vasectomy. Although I don’t think it should be mandatory, I think it should definitely be an option if one were to do it. Although, I HOPE what you’re saying is that after 18 this “vaccination” would wear off.
9-28-2010 @ 1:38PM
blake said...IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
9-28-2010 @ 6:13PM
Brandy said...I agree in that MANY people should be sterilized, there are too many damn people on this earth. I think for couples (who are truly committed to one another), or anyone, the limit for the number of children they are allowed to give birth to is three. After that, it is mandatory for each to be sterilized. If they or any woman wants more, adoption is the only option.
I have not had sex yet, and my fiancee hasn't either, we are both in our early 20s. It was more personal choice and waiting for the right person to give ourselves to (which in our case is eachother) than anything. I didn't know much about contraceptives in high school, but I did know about some STD's and that I DO NOT want children... I still do not. But yes, I am an advocate for stabilizing the earth's population! Quit having so many children! (yes, most of this is a stab at those families with too many children, ahem, Duggars, Gosselins, etc.)
9-29-2010 @ 7:01AM
Alicia said......DO YOU KNOW WHAT A VACCINE EVEN IS?! Jesus!
9-28-2010 @ 8:59AM
FairerPink said...My health education class covered birth control, mostly condoms. And at that time my school was one of the low budget inner city schools that Hollywood likes to makeover in movies. I wish they would go over the emotional ramifications of having a baby. Not just as a teenager but at any age. I think it should be explained that your life isn't your own anymore and again go over the meaning of responsibility.
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9-28-2010 @ 9:26AM
Tom said...Overall, this article (and maybe the subject study) is/are somewhat hollow and potentially very flawed.
Were the results skewed because only female interviewers from the University of Michigan conducted the study? (How truthful/responsive is a girl/boy in Mississippi going to be to a "Yankee" chick?)
(Why could the study have not been done with questionaires at school?)
Only 2,800 teenagers were interviewed. (What percentage of US students is that, and how were the students chosen?) (Also see previous comment.)
How long and how thorough were the sex education classes? (1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 school term - 6 weeks, etc,?)
What were the demographics of the study? (What percentage of the schools were urban, suburban, rural..., north, south, east, west, or what....and how did the results vary?)
(Did the southern "bible belt" and northeasten "prim and proper" schools differ from the rest of the nation?)
(Did "liberal" California, or black/Hispanic-dominated schools differ from the rest of the nation?)
How did the courses/classes vary by type of school? (Public vs private?)
Was there a disparity between "open" vs religion-based schools?
At what ages or grade levels was the instruction given?
Were the teachers/instructors trained and qualified to give the sex education classes? (Had they had formal training, or were they the volleyball/football coaches and physical education teachers who were "flying by the seats of their pants"?)
What were the ages and backgrounds of the teachers/instructors? (Were they below "middle-aged", or were they ready-to-retire old maids and hermits?)
Without this type of information, the study is totally useless.
If the CDC is going to spend $Ms on a study, it should be accurate, representative, and infomatively detailed.
A gross "arm waving" of generalized statics does nobody any good.
I am not a statistician, but I know that studies need to be founded on solid facts and need to be supportable.
Based on this paltry article, this study is neither.
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9-28-2010 @ 9:32AM
PsychedelicSpell said...Reproductive health should be taught. And newsflash sex makes babies. In most schools they have condom programs, give out directions to get to planned parenthood plus a card. So what is this article talking about? What they do not teach is how abortions ruin your reproductive chances if you use it as birth control. Scar tissue. It is up to the parents to teach their children before they become grandparents. And you have to be in a semi coma not to know your child is active. They have been pushing the limits since they could walk. And contraception is not 100 percent. How many condom babies walking around? How many pill babies walking around because mom popped antibiotics or sinus meds? (((Nothing))) is 100 percent if your active. I told my daughter this. Take a long hard look at your future lover. Know if you reproduce with it you will be dealing with it for the ((((rest)))) of your life. Is that few mins worth it? When all else fails try the truth.
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