Sexual Activity
- Most very young teens have not had intercourse: 8 in 10 girls and 7 in 10 boys are sexually inexperienced at age 15. 1
- The likelihood of teenagers’ having intercourse increases steadily with age; however, about 1 in 5 young people do not have intercourse while teenagers.2
- Most young people begin having sex in their mid-to-late teens, about 8 years before they marry; more than half of 17-year-olds have had intercourse.3
- While 93% of teenage women report that their first intercourse was voluntary, one-quarter of these young women report that it was unwanted.4
- The younger women are, when they first have intercourse, the more likely they are to have had unwanted or nonvoluntary first sex–7 in 10 of those who had sex before age 13, for example.5
- Nearly two-thirds (64%) of sexually active 15-17-year-old women have partners who are within two years of their age; 29% have sexual partners who are 3-5 years older, and 7% have partners who are six or more years older.6
- Most sexually active young men have female partners close to their age: 76% of the partners of 19-year-old men are either 17 (33%) or 18 (43%); 13% are 16, and 11% are aged 13-15.7
