Study: Fewer teens having sex

ATLANTA - Fewer teens and young adults are having sex, a government survey shows, and theories abound for why they're doing it less.

This generation may be more cautious than their predecessors, more aware of sexually spread diseases, experts say. Or perhaps emphasis on abstinence in the past decade has had some influence.

Or maybe they're just too busy.

"It's not even on my radar," said Abbey King, 17, of Hinsdale, Ill., a competitive swimmer who starts her day at 5 a.m. and falls into bed at 10:30 p.m. after swimming, school, weightlifting, running, more swimming, homework and a volunteer gig working with service dogs for the disabled.

The study, released Thursday, is based on interviews of about 5,300 young people, ages 15 to 24. It shows the proportion in that age group who said they'd never had oral, vaginal or anal sex rose in the past decade from 22 percent to about 28 percent.

The findings are sure to surprise some parents who see skin and lust in the media and worry that sex is rampant.

"Many parents and adults look at teens and sex and see nothing but a blur of bare midriffs. They think things are terrible and getting worse," said Bill Albert, chief program officer for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Health scientist Anjani Chandra of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention described the decline in sex as small but significant. It's difficult to look for a trend earlier than 2002 because previous surveys did not gather as much detail about various types of sex, she added.