Sex and America's Teenagers

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This report builds on over a decade of research by The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) and many others. It represents two years of direct research, analysis and thought by AGI staff members Patricia Donovan, senior associate for law and public policy; Jacqueline Darroch Forrest, vice president for research; Jennifer Frost, senior research associate; David J. Landry, senior research associate; and Olivia Schieffelin Nordberg, director of publications. In addition, the assistance and advice of other AGI staff were invaluable to its preparation: Daniel Daley, Beth Fredrick, Stanley K. Henshaw, Kathryn L. Kost, Cory L. Richards, Jeannie I. Rosoff and Susheela Singh. Finally, this report would not have been possible without the research assistance of Jessica W. Black and Kathryn L. Kuo, and the administrative assistance of Stefani Janicki, Joanne L. Johnson, Vanessa Kaleb, Stuart Rhoden, Marjory Ruderman and Regina Toler. The counsel of two advisory panels also helped to shape the direction of the final report, and thanks are extended to those participants, listed here with their affiliation at the time of their participation: Christine A. Bachrach, NICHD; Jerry Bennett, Office of Population Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS); Judy Bennett, Virginia Council of Churches; Robert Blum, University of Minnesota; Sarah Brown, Institute of Medicine; Sarah DePersio, Oklahoma State Department of Health; Joy Dryfoos, independent consultant; Floyd Garrett, Adolescent Family Center, Rush-Presbyterian, St. Luke's Medical Center; Olivia Golden, Children's Defense Fund; Debra Haffner, Sex Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS); Cheryl Hayes, independent consultant; Ann Hill, National Urban League; Marion Howard, Grady Memorial Hospital; Renee Jenkins, Howard University Hospital; Samuel Kessel, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, DHHS; Laura Colin Klein, Association of Junior Leagues; Lloyd Kolbe, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); James Marks, CDC; James McCarthy, Center for Population and Family Health, Columbia University; Harriet Meyer, Ounce of Prevention Fund; Inca Mohammed, Young Women's Christian Association; Kristin Moore, Child Trends; Geri Peak, Center for Population Options (CPO); Margaret Pruitt-Clark, CPO; John Schlitt, Southern Center on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention; Robert Selverstone, SIECUS; Jack Smith, CDC; Mary Sosa, National Education Association; Amy Sutnick-Plotch, Girls, Inc.; Trish Moylan Toruella, PPFA; Judy Wurtzel, U.S. Department of Education; Laurie S chwab Zabin, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University.

We acknowledge with gratitude colleagues in the field who provided us with special tabulations of data: Saul D. Hoffman, Kristin A. Moore, Christine W. Nord, Deborah Oakley, James L. Peterson and Koray Tanfer.

The research needed to produce this report was supported in large part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The Marion Cohen Memorial Foundation and the General Services Foundation helped to support its production and distribution. Young people represent the country's hopes for a brighter future. Yet, the world in which teenagers grow up today is very different from that of their parents' and grandparents' youth, and many adults are concerned about the pressures on adolescents. Perhaps no area is of greater concern, has more implications for an individual's life and future well-being or is more fraught with ambiguity than sexual relationships.

The Turning Point

Society has little tolerance for emerging sexuality during childhood, but accepts--indeed, expects--that adults have intercourse. Consensus evaporates, however, on the point in an individual's life at which society should shift from treating sex as inappropriate to considering it acceptable behavior.

In past generations, the issue was fairly easily resolved. Marriage marked the turning point. Historically, at least for young women, the physical capability to have sex and reproduce typically did not occur until the mid-teenage years. The social transition of marriage and the assumption of other adult responsibilities, such as employment, establishing one's own household and having children, commonly took place soon thereafter.

Sexual activity among adolescents has always been common; but in the past, it was closely linked to marriage, especially for young women. Sex outside marriage certainly occurred, but it was not considered a major social problem, in large part because its chief negative consequence--unintended pregnancy--was generally dealt with by marriage, or by clandestine adoption or abortion.

Diverging Transitions

Times have changed. Over the last century, puberty has slowly moved to earlier ages, and so has the initiation of sexual activity. Most adolescents now begin to have intercourse in their middle or late teens--long before they marry (Figure 1, page 7). Furthermore, as sex has become more common at younger ages, behavior of various subgroups of the population has converged: Differences in sexual activity between gender, racial, socioeconomic and religious groups have substantially narrowed.

While sex now occurs at earlier ages, young people reach other traditional markers of adulthood, such as full-time employment and economic independence, at later ages, because more education is needed for today's jobs. Moreover, education and employment have become accepted, almost required paths to adulthood for young women, as well as for young men. Rather than considering these responsibilities alternatives to marriage and motherhood, young women pursue them and the more traditional ones simultaneously. (1) As the ages at which young people complete their education and begin full-time employment have risen, and as work has become an ongoing part of most women's lives, marriage and parenthood have tended to occur at older ages, especially for women. Moreover, a small but increasing proportion of adults never marry. (2)

Defining the "Problem"

Although young people's sexual behavior today is broadly seen as problematic, there is no consensus on exactly what the "problem" is. About one-third of adults think that sexual activity in and of itself is the problem because sex outside marriage is morally wrong. (3) Most adults, however, do not think that sex prior to marriage is always wrong; in fact, some believe that sexual activity under certain conditions is normal, healthy behavior even for adolescents. (4) For them, adolescent sexual behavior is a matter of concern largely because of the possible negative outcomes--namely, unintended pregnancy and STDs. The degree of concern generally varies, however, according to the age and maturity of the young people involved; sexual activity, or even pregnancy, among those in their late teens raises far less concern than does sex among very young adolescents. For some adults, the primary problem is the cost to society of providing services, particularly welfare, to help young people who are poor deal with the d emands of early parenthood.

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