Recent research found that younger teens are not having less of an active sex life than previously. The research also found older teens are now putting off sex on a more frequent basis than the past.
On Monday, the new study was released and found only 2.4% of young adolescents at age 12 had experienced sex. At the age of 16, that percentage had reached 33% who had been sexually active at least once in their life. For teens between 18 and 19, that percentage jumped to 71%.
The lower rates for young adolescents has remained constant for many decades, researchers said, but the change in older teens to say no more often is a recent change.
The information for the recent study on teenagers was calculated using data from 2006 through 2010. Researchers said that within any given age group, the likelihood that a teen was sexually active feel to a low of 25 years.
The data also showed that 80% of those who were just 16 and were experiencing sex for the first time used some type of contraceptive and that percentage of contraceptive use increased to over 95% for 17-year olds experiencing sex for only the first time.
The most alarming result found was that of the few younger adolescents who reported to have experienced sex, the majority of them said they had be coerced into it and had not done it voluntarily.
