Teens Report Peer Pressure To Have Sex

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Waiting to have sex is a nice idea, teenagers say, but they believe hardly anyone does it. Many teens, particularly boys, feel pressure to have sex, and they say drugs and alcohol often lead to sex -- often without condoms.

The teen survey, released Monday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, paints a comprehensive portrait of youth attitudes about sex and the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Teen pregnancy and birth rates have been falling for a decade -- a trend that other surveys have attributed to a drop in sexual activity and an increased use of condoms and other forms of birth control.

Still, the Kaiser survey spotlights areas of concern: Four in 10 sexually active teenagers have taken a pregnancy test or had a partner who did so. A significant minority of young people -- about one in six -- say having sex without a condom occasionally is not a big deal. And one in five say they have had unprotected sex after drinking or using drugs.

Other surveys have found that nearly two in three teens will have had sex by the time they graduate from high school. The Kaiser survey shows that many have intimate relationships before that, with more than half of 15-to-17-year-olds saying they have been with someone in a sexual way. Among teens who have not yet had sex, nearly a third say they have been "intimate" with a partner.

"Changing social norms and cultural expectations as well as delayed marriage means many young people have multiple sexual relationships in their lifetimes and need the information and tools to make healthy decisions and communicate with their partners," the report said.

About one in three teens said they had been in a relationship where they felt things were moving too fast sexually.

Separately, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy was releasing its own study Tuesday examining sex among younger teens. It found that about one in five teens report having sex before they turn 15 years old.

That report, a compilation of data from earlier surveys, also found that younger teen girls who are sexually experienced were more likely than older teens to say they wish they had waited to have sex.

"Parents, program leaders, school officials, community leaders and others need to recognize that sex and dating are important issues for middle school age youth that cannot be ignored," the campaign said.

The Kaiser survey found that boys face particular pressure to have sex, often from male friends -- in contrast to the typical portrait of boys pressuring girls.

"There are a lot of expectations for boys to be sexually active," said Julia Davis, senior program officer at the Kaiser Family Foundation, an independent group that studies health issues.

One in three boys ages 15-17 say they feel pressure to have sex, compared with 23 percent of girls. The pressure to drink alcohol was greater for both boys and girls; pressure to use drugs was about even with pressure to have sex.

Overall, 63 percent of all 15-17-year-olds agreed either strongly or somewhat that "waiting to have sex is a nice idea but nobody really does it," with boys 6 percentage points more likely to say so.

The survey also found:

-More than eight in 10 teens say that a lot or some people their age drink or use drugs before having sex. Seven in 10 said their peers don't use condoms when they are drinking or using drugs.

-About a quarter said that alcohol or drugs had influenced their decision to do something sexual at least once.

-More than half of teens believe oral sex is not as big a deal as sexual intercourse, with boys more likely to believe this. Four in 10 consider oral sex "safer sex," although some diseases can be transmitted this way.