What Teens Really Say

-Source-NPR- Want to know what the teenagers in your life really think about sex and drugs? Are you sure? Well researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have a pretty good idea thanks to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Every other year thousands of teens in public and private high schools across the country take this nationally representative survey. The CDC just released results for 2017 and here are a few of the highlights: Sex Teens experiences with sex are changing and the news is almost all good says Kathleen Ethier director of CDCs Division of Adolescent and School Health. Fewer are initiating sex Ethier says fewer are currently sexually active theyre having fewer partners and theyre using more effective hormonal birth control methods. Why Teens Should Understand Their Own Brains (And Why Their Teachers Should Too!) NPR ED Why Teens Should Understand Their Own Brains (And Why Their Teachers Should Too!) In 2007 nearly 48 percent of teens said theyd had sex at least once. A decade later its 39.5 percent. One change in the data that Ethiers not happy about is a recent decline in condom use. In 2007 61.5 percent of teens said theyd used a condom during their last sexual encounter. By last year that rate had dropped to 53.8 percent. Ethier says this is due at least in part to a decrease over time in requirements that school cover HIV and sexually transmitted diseases in health education programs. According to the report young people aged 15-24 account for half of the roughly 20 million new STDs reported each year. One more red flag Ethier says: More than one in 10 young women (11.3 percent) reported being forced to have sex. Drugs When it comes to illicit drugs like cocaine and heroin teen use is way down from 22.6 percent in 2007 to 14 percent in 2017.