Sexual behavior of nonurban students in grades 7 and 8: implications for public policy and sex education

In a study of 1,844 suburban and rural students in Grades 7 and 8 in public schools in Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho, sexual activity was much lower than that reported by the popular media and in some scholarly journals. The difference was in part related to using measures other than asking the adolescents whether they had ever had sexual intercourse. The estimates based on those who have had sex more than just once decreased to 16% the number of adolescents who would be classified as sexually active. If the definition of sexually active is further limited to only those who have had sex recently (within the past 4 weeks), only 9% are sexually active. Further restrictions to those who have had sex 5 or more or 10 or more times reduce the percentage of sexually active adolescents to 6% and 2%, respectively. Over-all, the percentage of "sexually active" adolescents depends on the empirical definition of "sexually active," and there are many indications why "ever had sex" is not an adequate measure.