Teenagers in the United States: Sexual Activity,Contraceptive Use, and Childbearing, 2015-2019

Objective-This report presents national estimates of sexual activity and contraceptive use among males and females ages 15-19 in the United States, based on data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Methods-NSFG data were collected through in-person interviews with nationally representative samples of males and females ages 15-49 in the household population of the United States. NSFG 2015-2019 interviews were conducted between September 2015 and September 2019 with 21,441 males and females, including 3,812 teenagers (1,894 females and 1,918 males ages 15-19). Estimates include measures of sexual experience and contraceptive use as well as circumstances of first sexual intercourse (sex), attitudes, and probability of a birth during the teen years. Estimates are shown overall and by Hispanic origin and race, age group, parental living arrangements, and maternal characteristics. The report focuses on the period 2015-2019, with trends shown for selected measures for time points 2002, 2006-2010, 2011-2015, and 2015-2019. Results-In 2015-2019, 40.5% of never-married female teenagers (3.8 million), and 38.7% of never-married male teenagers (3.8 million) had ever had vaginal intercourse with an opposite-sex partner. For females this percentage was stable across the four time points, but for males this percentage decreased from the 2002 (45.7%) and 2011-2015 (44.2%) time points. For teen males, use of any contraception at first sex increased across the four time points, from 82.0% in 2002 to 92.1% in 2015-2019, while no consistent trend was seen for teen females. Nearly four out of five female teenagers (77.3%) in 2015-2019 used a method of contraception at first sex. Among female teenagers, ever-use of long-acting reversible contraception, which includes intrauterine devices and contraceptive implants, increased from 5.8% to 19.2% from 2011-2015 to 2015-2019.