Surprise, Teens Think Condoms Are Cool
Are you the parent or grandparent of hormone-crazed teens? Do you worry about their sexual responsibility? You can now relax a bit.
A recent survey of sex in the U.S. involving more participants than any study in 20 years shows that compared with single adults of all ages, teens, age 14 to 17, are considerably more likely to use condoms every time they have intercourse.
This comes from the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior conducted by researchers at the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University (where Alfred Kinsey launched modern American sex research in the 1940s). The new report surveyed 5,865 individuals, age 14 to 94, of whom 800 were under 18. The results are surprising.
Conventional Wisdom vs. Sexual Health and Behavior Survey
The conventional wisdom says that among sexually active teens, girls are more committed to condoms than boys because they’re the ones who get pregnant. But in the survey, 80 percent of the boys said they’d used a condom the last time they had intercourse, compared with only 69 percent of the girls.
Another widely held belief is that safe sex is more likely to be practiced by white teens than by minorities. But in the survey, African-American and Hispanic-American teens reported more condom use.
The conventional wisdom also says that teens, especially boys, consider condoms a burden, a pleasure reducer, “a shower with a raincoat on.” But in the study, many teens rated condom-covered intercourse more enjoyable than bareback sex, presumably because it’s less likely to result in pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections..
Finally, adults assume that they are more sexually responsible than teens, but in the study, the teens were more committed to safe sex than the adults. Three-quarters of the teens used condoms the last time they had intercourse, compared with fewer than half of the adults of all ages involved in casual relationships.
This study contains so many counter-intuitive findings that it’s reasonable to ask if it can be believed. I welcome your comments, but personally, I’m inclined to give the study the benefit of the doubt. If three-quarters of teens now use condoms more or less routinely, we would expect a major decline in the teen pregnancy rate. According to a 2010 report by the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks teen sex, since 1991, the teen birth rate has fallen 38 percent.
Now, it’s possible that teens might say they’re using condoms when, in fact, they’re not. A well-documented limitation of survey research is that some participants give researchers the replies they believe the researchers want, in the case of sexually active teens, that they’re committed to using condoms. But the combination of this survey’s findings and the clear decline in teen pregnancies suggests that many, perhaps most sexually active teens are, in fact, using condoms consistently. That’s good news for teens, for their parents and grandparents—and for all of us.
[scroll down for related Questions & Answers]
References
Reece, M. et al. “Condom Use Rates in a National Probability Sample of Male and Females Ages 14 to 94 in the United States.” Journal of Sexual Medicine (2010) 7(Suppl 5):266. DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.02017.
Questions & Answers
I’ve answered more than 12,000 sex questions from people around the world, of all ages, for free. Here are a few that relate to the topic of this post. If you’d like to ask me a question of your own, please go to GreatSexGuidance.com.
Isn’t it normal for teenagers to have sex? After all, only a few hundred years ago having children while still a ‘teenager’ was normal for most people. Therefore shouldn’t teenage sex be okay as long as preventing sexual infections and pregnancy are priorities? Read my response…
I’m a teen. I have a fwb for about a week but I have dated him in the past. He wants to remain friends but i want to be more than fwb. It’s sooo hard. When I talk about it, he denies his feelings. We become fwb because we both just got outta relationships and were bored and all I do anymore is think nonstop about him. What should I do? Read my response…
I know that I am one of many with the same question but I simply cannot find the right solution for it. I am 18 year old and have a pretty good relationship. We are 18 months together and 3 months ago we had our first intercourse. That was the first time for both of us. It wasn’t like I imagined it. I was stressed and ejaculated quickly. Read more and my response…