Fewer teens having sex, report finds

WASHINGTON — Fewer high-school students are having sex these days, and more are using condoms. The teen birth rate has hit a record low.

More young people are finishing high school, too, and more little kids are being read to, according to the latest government snapshot of the well-being of the nation's children. It's good news on a number of key wellness indicators, experts said of the report being released today.

"The implications for the population are quite positive in terms of their health and their well-being," said Edward Sondik, director of the National Center for Health Statistics. "The lower figure on teens having sex means the risk of sexually transmitted diseases is lower."

In 2005, 47 percent of high-school students — 6.7 million — reported having had sexual intercourse, down from 54 percent in 1991.

The teen birth rate, the report said, was 21 per 1,000 young women ages 15-17 in 2005 — an all-time low. It was down from 39 births per 1,000 teens in 1991.

"This is very good news," Sondik said. "Young teen mothers and their babies are at a greater risk of both immediate and long-term difficulties."

Education campaigns that started years ago are having a significant effect, said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, a Washington-based nonprofit group that focuses on prevention of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

"I think the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the efforts in the '80s and '90s had a lot to do with that," Wagoner said of the improved numbers on teen sex, condoms and adolescent births.

"We need to encourage young teens to delay sexual initiation, and we need to make sure they get all the information they need about condoms and birth control," he said.

The report was compiled from statistics and studies at 22 federal agencies, and covered 38 key indicators, including infant mortality, academic achievement rates and the number of children living in poverty.

Other highlights:

• The percentage of children covered by health insurance decreased slightly. In 2005, 89 percent of children had health insurance coverage at some point during the year, down from 90 percent the previous year.

• The percentage of low-birthweight infants (born weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces) increased. It was 8.2 percent in 2005, up from 8.1 percent in 2004.

• More youngsters are getting reading time. Sixty percent of children ages 3-5 (and not in kindergarten) were read to daily by a family member in 2005, up from 53 percent in 1993.

• The percentage of children who had at least one parent working year round and full-time increased to 78.3 percent in 2005, up from 77.6 percent the previous year.

• More young people are completing high school. In 2005, 88 percent of young adults had finished high school, up from 84 percent in 1980.

The report was released by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.

Information in this story, originally published on July 13, 2007, was corrected on July 17, 2007. The Associated Press, relying on numbers provided by the National Center for Health Statistics, reported erroneously that 9 million teens who said they had sex during a three-month period in 2005 used condoms. The correct number is about 3 million, the center now says after reviewing the figures.