Study: Teens Who Hurry Love Less Likely to Use Birth Control

A new study by the nonprofit Child Trends research center shows that the longer teens wait to have intercourse for the first time, the more likely they are to use contraception. Researchers analyzed data on 1,027 teens -- grades 7-12 -- who were tracked in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The federal government funded the study.

When teens have intercourse for the first time, the study said, it is usually within the first three months of the start of a relationship. If the first sex occurs within one month, 58 percent of teens said they always used contraception. After four or more months together, 71 percent said they did. For each month a teen delays sex, the likelihood of consistent use of contraception increased by 5 percent.

Government statistics show that half of teens have had intercourse before age 18. Other studies show that teens who take abstinence pledges are more likely to delay sex, according to Child Trends researcher Suzanne Ryan. But the current study shows that if pledged teens do become sexually active, they are 57 percent less likely to always use contraception than those who have not taken abstinence pledges. Ryan said such teens might not be "diligent every time because they see contraception as concrete evidence of the activity they pledged to avoid."

Teens with older partners are less likely to use contraception consistently; there is an 11 percent decrease in use for each year of age difference. White and black teens use contraception more consistently (66 percent each) than Hispanic teens (54 percent).

The study, "Patterns of Contraceptive Use Within Teenagers' First Sexual Relationships," appears in the Alan Guttmacher Institute's Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health (2003;35(6)).

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