search Teen Sex and Pregnancy Revised 9/1999 SEXUAL ACTIVITY Most very young teens have not had intercourse: 8 in 10 girls and 7 in 10 boys are sexually inexperienced at age While 93% of teenage women report that their first intercourse was voluntary, one-quarter of these young women report that it was unwanted. 4 4 The younger women are when they first have intercourse, the more likely they are to have had unwanted or nonvoluntary first sex--7 in 10 of those who had sex before age 13, for example. 5 5 Nearly two-thirds (64%) of sexually active year-old women have partners who are within two years of their age; 29% have sexual partners who are 3-5 years older, and 7% have partners who are six or more years older. 6 6 Most sexually active young men have female partners close to their age: 76% of the partners of 19-year-old men are either 17 (33%) or 18 (43%); 13% are 16, and 11% are aged TEEN PREGNANCY 6 in 10 teen pregnancies occur among year-olds © copyright 2003, The Alan Guttmacher Institute.

Store About Our ProductsWhat's NewBestsellersBirth ControlSTIsAbortionWomen's HealthFor ParentsFor TeensEn EspañolWearables with a MessagePlanned Parenthood Mission Products Campaigns & ProgramsPlanned Parenthood Condoms ClearanceContact UsHow to OrderAbout Planned Parenthood Recursos en Español Quiénes SomosLa Misión de Planned Prenthood Localizador de la ClinicaServicios de Salud ExtensosRecursos de SaludPublicaciones en Español PPFA Web site © Planned Parenthood ® Federation of America, Inc. Use of this site signifies your agreement to our terms of use and privacy statement.terms of useprivacy statement Reducing Teenage Pregnancy Pregnancy & Childbearing Among U.S. Teens Teenage girls with older partners are more likely to become pregnant than those with partners closer in age. A recent study found that 6.7 percent of women aged 15–17 have partners six or more years older than they. The pregnancy rate for this group is 3.7 times as high as the rate for those whose partner is no more than two years older (Darroch et al., 1999).

Store About Our ProductsWhat's NewBestsellersBirth ControlSTIsAbortionWomen's HealthFor ParentsFor TeensEn EspañolWearables with a MessagePlanned Parenthood Mission Products Campaigns & ProgramsPlanned Parenthood Condoms ClearanceContact UsHow to OrderAbout Planned Parenthood Recursos en Español Quiénes SomosLa Misión de Planned Prenthood Localizador de la ClinicaServicios de Salud ExtensosRecursos de SaludPublicaciones en Español PPFA Web site © Planned Parenthood ® Federation of America, Inc. Use of this site signifies your agreement to our terms of use and privacy statement.terms of useprivacy statement Teenagers who have been raped or abused also experience higher rates of pregnancy — in a sample of 500 teen mothers, two-thirds had histories of sexual and physical abuse, primarily by adult men averaging age 27 (Males, 1993). Among women younger than 18, the pregnancy rate among those with a partner who is six or more years older is 3.7 times as high as the rate among those whose partner is no more than two years older. Adolescent women with older partners also use contraception less frequently — one study found that 66 percent of those with a partner six or more years older had practiced contraception at last intercourse, compared with 78 percent of those with a partner within two years of their own age (Darroch et al., 1999). Poor and High-Risk Teens Need Programs Aimed at Preventing Pregnancy Reducing Teenage Pregnancy

Adolescent Pregnancy and Sexual Abuse M. Joycelyn Elders, MD; Alexa E. Albert, BA JAMA. 1998;280: Vol. 280 No. 7, August 19, 1998 Commentary “Typically, the most pressing concern for teens and their clinicians becomes choosing from among the pregnancy outcome options, namely, abortion, parenting, or adoption….. In the commotion, clinicians may fail to inquire about precipitating events. Specifically, a workup to rule out sexual abuse may not be done, despite the fact that pregnancy in a young adolescent is an established sign of potential sexual abuse. 3 “ 3

Adolescent Pregnancy and Sexual Abuse M. Joycelyn Elders, MD; Alexa E. Albert, BA JAMA. 1998;280: Vol. 280 No. 7, August 19, 1998 Commentary “… [S]exual abuse is a common antecedent of adolescent pregnancy, with up to 66% of pregnant teens reporting histories of abuse. 4-7” 47 “Pregnancy may also be a sign of ongoing sexual abuse; that is, the pregnancy may result directly from an episode of abuse. Boyer and Fine 4 found that of 535 young women who were pregnant, 44% had been raped, of whom 11% became pregnant as a result of the rape. One half of these young women with rape histories were raped more than once.” 4

Adolescent Pregnancy and Sexual Abuse M. Joycelyn Elders, MD; Alexa E. Albert, BA JAMA. 1998;280: Vol. 280 No. 7, August 19, 1998 Commentary “The incidence of nonvoluntary sexual experiences that occur in adolescence, and thus, could lead to teen pregnancy, appears greater than previously assumed.” “Coercive sex acts against adolescent girls are frequently perpetrated by their boyfriends…. Boyfriends who are considerably older than their adolescent girlfriends have been found to be responsible for a majority of teen pregnancies ” 1517

Adolescent Pregnancy and Sexual Abuse M. Joycelyn Elders, MD; Alexa E. Albert, BA JAMA. 1998;280: Vol. 280 No. 7, August 19, 1998 Commentary “[H]ealth care professionals need to improve their abilities to identify and support adolescent girls who are experiencing nonvoluntary sex and are subsequently at risk for unplanned pregnancies.”