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First intercourse among young Americans - PubMed

Comparative Study

. 1983 Mar-Apr;15(2):64-70.

  • PMID: 6671478

Comparative Study

First intercourse among young Americans

M Zelnik et al. Fam Plann Perspect. 1983 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

In 1979, 50 percent of women aged 15-19 and 70 percent of men aged 17-21 living in metropolitan areas of the United States reported that they had ever had sexual intercourse. The average age at which young women had their first sexual experience was 16.2, compared with 15.7 among the men; women tended to have their first intercourse with a partner nearly three years older than themselves, whereas men had their first intercourse with a partner less than one year older. Blacks generally experienced first coitus at a younger age than did whites. Young women's first coitus generally occurred with someone toward whom the respondent felt a commitment; more than six in 10 young women said they had been going steady with or engaged to their first sexual partner. In contrast, fewer than four in 10 young men said that they had been engaged to or going steady with their first partner, and more than one in three said that they and their first partner had been friends. Young men were more than twice as likely as young women to have had first intercourse with someone they had only recently met. Seventeen percent of the young women and 25 percent of the young men surveyed said that they had planned their first intercourse; women who had been going steady with their first partner were most likely to have planned intercourse, while the young men who had met their first partner shortly before intercourse took place were the most likely to have planned the act.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

PIP: In 1979 50% of women 15-19 and 70% of men 17-21 living in metropolitan areas of the U.S. reported they had ever had sexual intercourse. Average age of 1st sexual experience was 16.2 for women and 15.7 for men. Women's partners tended to be nearly 3 years older, men's less than 1 year older. Age at 1st coitus was generally younger among blacks. Over 6 in 10 women and less than 4 in 10 men were engaged to or had been going steady with their 1st partner; men were more than twice as likely to have had 1st intercourse with someone they had only recently met. 17% of women and 25% of men had planned the 1st intercourse. Contraception was used by 49% of women and 44% of men at 1st intercourse, those 18 or older being most likely to have used it. White women were more likely to have been protected but blacks were most likely to have used a prescribed method. Almost 3/4 of women who had planned their 1st intercourse were protected by contraception, the partner using a condom or withdrawal in 2/3 of the cases. 4 in 10 women who used a prescription method obtained it from a clinic, the rest from private doctors. Nonuse among women who had planned their 1st intercourse was explained by deliberate choice or ignorance of contraception; nonplanners were more likely to explain nonuse by not expecting to have sex. Nonplanners were also more likely not to have thought about practicing birth control. Among men, planners explained nonuse by choice or lack of availability, nonplanners by lack of availability or lack of knowledge. Overall, it is suggested that problems of teenage pregnancy would be greater than they are in the absence of programs to deal with them, although current efforts are insufficient to appreciably decrease premarital teenage pregnancy in the near future.

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