More Often Than Not Teen Boys Turn to Condoms For Their First Time

More sexually active American teen males are using condoms the first time they have sex, according to a new study done by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a report titled Teenagers in the United States: Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use and Childbearing, 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth, was based on interviews with about 4,700 never-married teenagers, ages 15 to 19, conducted from 2006 through 2010

CDC researchers found that 80 percent of teenage boys used a condom the first time they had sex, an increase of nine percent from 2002, where roughly 16 percent of teen males used a condom in combination with a six percent increase from 2002.

The nation's teen pregnancy and birth rates are now at record lows and the credit for this truly extraordinary progress goes to teens themselves who are making better decisions about sex and contraceptive use, said Sarah Brown, CEO of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Less than half of teens, aged 15-19, have had sex and the percentage of teen boys who used a condom the first time they had sex is on the rise, according to a new report released Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

We also applaud NCHS for this important report and for continuing to set the standard for quality data on many important issues, Brown said. Some 41 percent of teen girls and 31 percent of teen boys cite sex being against [their] religion or morals as the main reason they have not had sex.

Researchers said although teen contraceptive use overall has remained nearly unchanged since 2002, there were some noteworthy improvements.

The study highlighted dramatic improvements seen over the past two decades involving teen sexual activity and contraceptive use.

The percentage of teen girls who have had sex declined from 51 percent in 1988 to 43 percent in 2006; for boys, the percentage who have had sex declined from 60 percent to 42 percent during the same time period, according to the study.

Among teen boys, about 80 percent say they used a dual methods of contraception - a condom combined with a hormonal method - when they first had sex, an increase of nine percentage points from 2002.

The percentage of teens who say they used any method of contraception the first time they had sex increased between 2006-2010, with 78 percent of girls and 85 percent of boys surveyed.