3 in 10 City Teenagers Fail To Use Condoms
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Three in 10 sexually active teenagers in New York City do not use condoms, the city’s health department reported yesterday.
In a survey of sexually active public school students, health officials found that 31% of teenagers fail to use condoms, compared to 37% of sexually active teenagers nationwide. The figure is higher than it was in 2003, when 24% of sexually active teenagers failed to use condoms. Yesterday, health officials said the change was not “statistically significant.”
Overall, city health officials said one in three students is sexually active. The proportion of teenagers in the city who have had sex, 48%, is close to nationwide figure. According to the survey, 14% of sexually active teenagers in New York fail to use any form of birth control. Among teenage girls, 19% reported that they did not use birth control the last time they had sex, compared to 14% nationwide. The data are based on a survey of 8,140 public school students conducted in 2005.
“Postponing sex has many benefits for teens,” the city’s health commissioner, Thomas Frieden, said in a statement. “It’s the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.” In a comparison of birth control use by neighborhood, health officials said teenagers in the South Bronx were most likely to have unprotected sex, at a rate of 26%.
Health officials also said less than half of teenagers, 47%, have heard of emergency contraception, or Plan B, which can be sold over the counter to adults over 18.
In 2005, the city’s teenage pregnancy rate was 94 per 1,000 girls between 15 and 19. Nationwide, the rate was 76 per 1,000 in 2002, the most recent statistic available.
Yesterday’s report prompted some to call for comprehensive sex education in public schools. “While we are somewhat heartened that New York City teens fare slightly better than the national average when it comes to condom use, the overall numbers of contraceptive use by sexually active teens is disturbingly low,” the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of New York City, Joan Malin, said.
