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Responsible
Sexual Behavior
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Increase
the proportion of adolescents who abstain from sexual intercourse.
Target:
50.8 percent.
Baseline, 1997: 39.1 percent of adolescents, grades 9
through 12, abstained from sexual intercourse.
Target setting method: 30 percent improvement.
Increase
the proportion of adolescents who use condoms, if currently sexually
active.
Target:
75 percent.
Baseline, 1997: 62.2 percent of adolescents, grades 9
through 12, used condoms.
Target setting method: 20.5 percent improvement.
Reduce
the rate of unplanned pregnancies in adolescent female ages 10 to
19.
Target:
10 per 1000
Baseline, 1998: 15.6 pregnancies per 1000 females ages
10 to 19 years.
Target setting method: 36 percent improvement.
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Health
Promotion -
Responsible Sexual Behavior
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Early sexual activity is associated with
negative effects on social development, unwanted pregnancy, and contraction
of sexually transmitted diseases (STD), including human immunodeficiency
virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). About three-fourths
of high school students (74 percent) indicated that they had been
taught about abstaining from sexual intercourse. Almost 61 percent
of North Carolina youth reported that they have had sex compared to
48 percent of students nationally. In the past six years, there has
been an increase in condom use among those young people who are sexually
active; this is especially true among students in higher grades. Of
students who had sexual intercourse, almost one in five reported drinking
alcohol or using drugs the last time they had sexual intercourse.
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs),
including HIV/AIDS, and teen pregnancy have a significant health
and economic impact on the people in North Carolina. In North Carolina
approximately 67 percent of all STDs occur in people ages 15-24.
Teen pregnancy rates among people ages 10-19 account for 16 percent
of all pregnancies in North Carolina. Unmarried females account
for 38 percent of all pregnancies in North Carolina. All of these
health concerns are preventable based on lifestyle changes that
can be taught during early adolescence. Adolescent pregnancy in
North Carolina cost taxpayers $807,800,000 in 1997. This includes
the costs for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), food
stamps, WIC, and Medicaid for families begun by a teen in North
Carolina. For every dollar North Carolina spent on expenditures
to support families begun by teens, it spent one cent on investments
to prevent teen pregnancy.
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Disparities
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According to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey,
teen pregnancy disproportionately effects minority girls ages 10-14
(who have 68 percent of all pregnancies for that age group), males
are more sexually active than females, and minority males report a
higher number of sexual partners. |
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Determinants/Risk
Factors
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Substance abuse, peer pressure, lack of adult
supervision, and lack of information |
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NC Data
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Health
Promotion - Responsible Sexual Behavior |
