Teenagers Cite Religious, Moral Reasons for Not Having Sex: Study

Religion and morals still play big roles for teenagers who are not having sex, a new study shows.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a study on sexual activity among teenagers from 2006 to 2010.

Researchers surveyed teenagers on various sexual activity trends, including their use of contraceptives and how they felt about losing their virginity.

Forty-one percent of teenage girls and 31 percent of teenage boys reported not having sex because doing so would be against religion or morals, according to survey results.

This reason was consistent with results of a 2002 survey, researchers wrote.

The second highest reason for male teenagers not having sex? They have not found the right person. Female teenagers also cited this reason, as well as not wanting to get pregnant.

Teenagers were least likely to choose 'don't want to get a sexually transmitted disease' as the reason for not having sex, researchers wrote.

The study also showed that male teenagers were more likely to have wanted to have sex the first time than females.

Among females in the 18-24 group who had sex for the first time before the age of 20, 41 percent reported wanting to have sex while the rest either did not want it to happen (11 percent) or had mixed feelings (48 percent).

The study concluded that sex at a younger age had some pretty heavy strings attached to it.

It is associated with less familiarity with first partner, higher likelihood that first sexual intercourse was unwanted, higher numbers of sexual partners, and lower likelihood of using contraception at both first and last sex, researchers wrote of having sex at a younger age.