Arizona: Half of State's High Schoolers Have Had Sex, Survey Shows

Results from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey of Arizona high school students surveyed last spring in grades nine through 12 found that about half have had sex. About two-thirds (63.7 percent) of students will have had sex by their senior year. In addition, about 19 percent of seniors surveyed reported having had sex with four or more partners.

"These figures should disturb a lot of people," said Patricia Jo Angelini, executive director of the nonprofit Arizona Coalition on Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting. "Compared to other students nationwide, Arizona youth are more likely to have used drugs or alcohol before having sex and less likely to have used a condom."

Some of Mesa's Red Mountain High students said the survey might be shocking for parents. "They think their child is not having sex, when really they are lying to themselves about what their kids are doing," said Amy Ronn, student body vice president. "Within our culture, so much emphasis is on sex, it doesn't surprise me," said David Burnap, student body president. "You hear about sex left and right," agreed Ronn. "It comes up in conversation daily, so the survey doesn't surprise me one bit."

Many high school students are responsible with sex, said Burnap and Ronn, and neither saw a problem with some of the survey statistics.

The survey also showed violence and abuse are prevalent in teen relationships. About 9.8 percent said they had been "physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to," and 9.9 percent had been hit, slapped or physically hurt by their boyfriends or girlfriends during the past year.

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