The number of teenage boys and younger teenage girls who have ever had sex has "declined significantly" in recent years and teens

The number of teenage boys and younger teenage girls who have ever had sex has "declined significantly" in recent years and teens are waiting until they are older before they lose their virginity. According to the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, the percentage of teens who report they have ever had sexual intercourse has been declining since 1991. The percentage of high school students in the U.S. who reported that they have ever had sexual intercourse dropped from 54.1% in 1991 to 47.8% in 2007. Teens are waiting until they are older before initiating sexual intercourse. The number of boys who waited until they were at least into their 20s before they first had sex went up over 18% between 1995 and 2002.

Both adolescents who have never had sex and those who have chosen to become abstinent after engaging in sexual behaviors cite the negative consequences of sex as reasons why they choose not to have sex. Girls of all ages and experience levels were more likely than boys to cite the fear of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Virgin boys were more likely than girls to say they believed most students did not have sex.

Boys who practiced secondary abstinence, that is, those who had had sex in the past but had since become abstinent, were more than twice as likely to have caused a pregnancy than boys who were currently sexually active. However, for girls, past pregnancy had little correlation with secondary abstinence. Fear of pregnancy, wanting to wait until marriage, and not wanting to have sex were cited more often by virgins in the 12th grade than they were by 9th graders. Of the sexually experienced who are now practicing abstinence, girls were more likely than boys to say a lack of desire, fear of STDs, being afraid of getting caught, the belief that sex wasn't appropriate for someone their age, and that their parents had taught them the advantages of waiting as reasons why they made their decision.

Adolescents who have received sex education in school or church settings are less likely to be sexually active. For girls, they were 59% less likely and boys were 71% less likely. Epidemiologists at the Center for Disease Control emphasize that for sex education to be effective, it should take place before teens become sexually active.