Teenagers nowadays may be perceived to be more sexually active, but here's some good news, especially for parents: A recent study revealed that abstinence is becoming more common and popular among the young generation in America.
The US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) recently conducted a survey involving 2,000 teenage boys and girls, aged 15 to 19 years old.
The poll revealed that 44 percent of the teen girls surveyed admitted to having sex at least once.
This number is significantly lower compared to figures in 1988, when 51 percent of teen girls said they were sexually active.
The preference for abstinence is even more pronounced among the teenage boys surveyed. Forty-seven percent of teen boys who participated in the survey said they already tried having sex.
Again, this figure is lower compared to numbers in 1988, when 60 percent of the teen boys polled said they already had sexual experience.
The CDC survey also showed that majority of teenage kids these days use some form of contraception.
Ninety-seven percent of teen girls, for instance, said their sexual partner used a condom during intercourse. The withdrawal method was also found to be pretty common among teenagers.
These figures seemed to have also caused the number of teenage pregnancies and births to slide down from 84 per 1,000 teens in 1991 t0 26 in 2013.
What caused this seemingly lower interest in sex? Dr. Brooke Bokor, an Adolescent Medicine Specialist at the Children's National Health System, pointed to growing awareness about sex and its consequences.
This awareness is aided by the wealth of information on the Internet about this topic, as well as parental guidance.
"They're looking on the web. They're looking for guidance from parents, guardians and physicians. They can and will make positive decisions for their own health, both sexual and otherwise," Bokor said.
"We really need to be prepared to treat our youth and young adults as educated consumers," she added.
Bokor also thinks that the growing popularity and administration of HPV vaccines, which help prevent cervical cancer, helped lower the interest in sex among teenagers.
"They learn from doctors that you can catch HPV even if you use a condom. They might think: How else can I stay healthy?" the physician explained.
