John F. Kantner

Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use and Pregnancy Among Metropolitan-Area Teenagers: 1971-1979

Results of a 1979 national survey concerning attitudes and practices of 15-19 year old women living in metropolitan areas are presented and compared with survey findings for 1971 and 1976. The proportion of 15-19 year old metropolitan area women who report having had premarital sexual intercourse rose from 30% in 1971 to 43% in 1976 and to 50% in 1979. Among whites the proportion sexually active rose from 26% in 1971 to 47% in 1979. Almost all of the increase is accounted for by increased sexual activity of never-married white women. 12% of the sexually active women in 1979 reported having had intercourse only once. The level of premarital pregnancy among teenagers increased from 9% in 1971 to 13% in 1976 and to 16% in 1979. The proportion of premaritally pregnant teenagers who married before resolution of the pregnancy decreased from 33% in 1971 to 16% in 1979. The proportion terminated by abortion rose from 23% in 1971 to 37% in 1979. 34% of sexually active teenagers said they always used contraception in 1979 compared to 29% in 1976, while those who reported they never used it declined from 36 to 27%. The proportion of premarital pregnancies occurring among those reporting they had always used a contraceptive method rose from 10% to 14% between 1976 and 1979, partly due to a decline in the use of the most effective medical methods between 1976 and 1979 and a rise in the use of the least effective methods, especially withdrawal.

Sexual and contraceptive experience of young unmarried women in the United States, 1976 and 1971.

The prevalence of sexual activity among never-married U.S. teenage women increased by 30 percent between 1971 and 1976; so that by age 19, 55 percent have had sexual intercourse. The increase, which has occurred at all ages and among all races, has been accompanied by a dramatic increase in the use of contraception, the use of the most effective methods, and the more regular use of all methods. Nevertheless, few teenagers begin use of contraception at the same time that they initiate intercourse--and many wait until after they have experienced pregnancy.

Sexual experience of young unmarried women in the United States.

Nearly 2.4 million never-married women in the United States aged 15-19 (28 percent of all such young women) were estimated in 1971 to have had coital experience. This estimate is based on a survey of 3132 white and 1479 black respondents. The investigation indicates that the likelihood that a young never-married woman will experience coitus rises from 14 percent at age 15 to 46 percent by age 19. Roughly 54 percent of black women aged 15-19 have had intercourse as opposed to 23 percent white women. High proportions of sexual experience are associated with residence in the central city; households without fathers; low degree of family confidence sharing. College women living in dormitories had about the same experience levels as women living at home in households headed by a father. Nominal church affliation does not affect proportions but faithful church attendence is associated with lower proportions of coital experience.

The risk of adolescent pregnancy in the first months of intercourse.

Because of early age at initiation of intercourse and associated nonuse of contraception, half of first premarital pregnancies to teens occur in the first six months after they begin coitus; one-fifth occur in the first month. Programs to prevent adolescent pregnancy will not succeed unless they reach young people before they begin sexual activity.

Contraception and pregnancy: experience of young unmarried women in the United States.

We have previously described the sexual experience of unmarried U.S. teenagers based on interviews obtained in 1971 from a national sample of 4,611 young women 15-19 years of age.1 That article dealt largely with the sexual behavior of 2,839 white (i.e., nonblack) and 1,401 black never-married teenagers who, as a group, constitute 92 percent of the total sample (eight percent were or had been married). We found that about 28 percent of never-married young women aged 15-19 report having had sexual intercourse. This proportion rises from 14 percent at age 15 to 46 percent by age 19. (The proportion of teenagers who have premarital intercourse is higher, since about 60 percent of married teenagers report having had intercourse prior to marriage. Teenagers who come from poverty homes are not much more likely than their more affluent sisters to be sexually experienced. Faithful church attendance, rural background and a high level of confiding in parents are negatively associated with sexual experience. Migrant status and central city residence are associated positively with sexual experience. Socioeconomic factors are generally less significantly associated with sexual experience among whites than among blacks. We found that race ac-

Reasons for nonuse of contraception by sexually active women aged 15-19.

Findings from 2 U.S. national probability household sample surveys (1971 and 1976) of women aged 15-19 indicate a rapid increase in premarital sexual activity and a definite shift toward use of more effective modern contraceptive methods. Although this shift has been dramatic a significant proportion of sexually active adolescent women have never used contraceptives or have used them sporadically. The findings indicate that few teenagers fail to use contraception in order to become pregnant. There is evidence that many are sexually active for up to a year before beginning contraceptive use. Based on the 1976 survey information reasons are explored that premaritally sexually active teenage women give for failing to use contraception. Information on the nonuse of contraception was elicited for the last reported unprotected premarital intercourse and in the case of respondents premaritally pregnant at interview for the time at which that conception occurred. Results definitely indicate that sexually active young women engage in a substantial amount of unprotected intercourse. Most believe they are protected by their youth infrequent sex or time of month or say sex was unexpected. The data dramatize the need among young people for greater knowledge of the facts about pregnancy including the risks of conception when contraception is not used and it is concluded that people providing contraceptive services to adolescent women must initiate new approaches which take account of ignorance about risk of pregnancy sporadic sexual encounters and earlier

The resolution of teenage first pregnancies.

First conceptions occuring in tennage women in the U.S., the outcomes of the pregnancies, the marital status of the teenage women at conception and at the outcome, whether the pregnancy was intended or not, and whether contraception was used to prevent the pregnancy are discussed. It was determined that 30% of a cross section of teenage women have had premarital intercourse and 58% of those married had premarital intercourse. Of those experiencing premarital intercourse, 30% were pregnant before marriage, i.e., fewer than 10% of all females 15-19. Twice as many blacks have premarital intercourse than whites, and twice as many of these become pregnant. 35% of those who have a premarital first pregnancy marry before the baby is born. 64% of premarital first pregnancies are unintended. Of those who did not want to become pregnant, 13-16% used contraception to prevent the premarital pregnancy. 86% of births to blacks from first pregnancies are illegitimate compared with 23% for whites. More than 1/5 of the women who do not marry end the pregnancy by induced abortion. White teenagers who do not marry prior to the outcome of the pregnancy are 7 times more likely to have an induced abortion than blacks. 18% of the whites who have illegitimate births from first pregnancies give up their children for adoption compared with 2% blacks. Fewer than 30% of postmarital first pregnancies of teenage women are unintended. Blacks appear to display less anxiety than whites over illegitimate births. It may be that escape via abortion and marriage is less accessible to blacks than to whites both economically and psychologically.

Probabilities of intercourse and conception among U.S. teenage women, 1971 and 1976.

One in five U.S. females have had intercourse by age 16, and two-thirds, by age 19. Almost all the experience is premarital. One in 10 U.S. women get pregnant before age 17; one-quarter before they are 19, and eight in 10 of these pregnancies are premarital. More than one-third of those who are sexually active premaritally have a premarital pregnancy before they turn 19, one-quarter by the time they are 17.

The probability of premarital intercourse

Abstract Data on sexual behavior collected retrospectively in a national probability sample survey of females aged 15–19 make it possible, using life table techniques, to compute the probability of having intercourse prior to marriage. Estimates are provided for whites and blacks, for the synthetic cohort based on all five ages combined, and separately for each cohort, i.e., those currently aged 15, aged 16, etc. In addition, minimum and maximum estimates, based on different assumptions regarding ever married females, are also included. The results indicate that at any age, the probability of first premarital intercourse is considerably higher for blacks than for whites. The most striking finding however is one that suggests that premarital intercourse is beginning at younger ages and that the extent of premarital intercourse is probably on the increase. The paper explores other possible interpretations of the estimates.

United States: exploratory studies of Negro family formation--factors relating to illegitimacy.

An effort will be made to identify the factors that might be related to illegitimacy giving special attention to the explanation of high levels of illegitimacy among Negroes. Various students of the problem of illegitimacy in the U.S. have analyzed the illegitimacy sequence and have shown that the approximately 1:7 ratio between white and nonwhite illegitimate fertility rates is to a large degree a compound of differences in out-of-wedlock conceptions and differential tendencies to conceal these through marriage. It would appear from a study by Pratt that as of 1960 the white-nonwhite illegitimacy differential was partially a function of differences in the frequency of both premarital conception and the decision to marry prior to delivery. Relatively earlier and relatively more frequent intercourse among Negro women than among white women is expected because the social environment of the Negro women is more conducive to sexual activity and the penalties for illegitimacy are less stringent. Although the connection between premarital intercourse and illegitimacy could be weakened by the effective use of contraception contraception appears to have a psychic cost which many young women are unwilling to bear until they have had 1 or 2 illegitimate children. The configuration of attitudes and behavior with respect to sex birth control and marriage is undoubtedly contributory to high levels of illegitimacy. It does appear that given comparable socioeconomic background and holding educational attainment constant the black female as compared with her white counterpart is more likely to engage in premarital intercourse; less likely to use contraception; more likely to conceive; less likely to attempt to alter that condition; more likely to have and raise her illegitimate child; less likely to be censored for doing so; and better able to feel that her child has as good a chance in life as any legitimate child of her race.