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Evidence over the past 30 years suggests that teenagers are having their first sexual experience at ever younger ages , although the threat of AIDS may be slowing or even halting this trend. Numbers of those having their first intercourse before 16 have increased : currently about one in four teenage men and one in six teenage women. Around half of 16 year olds and around 80 percent of 19 year olds are now sexually experienced. Working - class boys, but not girls, are likely to begin at younger ages than their middle - class peers.
Premarital sex appears to be condoned by almost all teenagers, although most disapprove of extramarital sex. Most adolescent sexual activity takes place within steady relationships, although there is a significant level of infidelity within such relationships, and fairly frequent changes of partner. Almost half of all male teenagers and a quarter of females condoned sex with someone who was not a steady partner.
Among sexually active teenagers, the Pill remains the commonest contraceptive technique, use by about two in five. One in three uses condoms. However, about a quarter use no contraception and that figure is higher among those not in a regular relationship, or with several partners. Condom use appears to decline, and Pill use to increase, as couples enter steady relationships. The belief that it becomes no longer necessary to use a condom with a steady partner, and ist impact on pleasure, are the main reasons for condom non - use. Contraceptive use among teenage girls who become teenage mothers is low , and among very young teenage mothers, almost non - existent. Many are unsure how to obtain contraceptives. Some appear to have given up reliable techniques without any clear desire to become pregnant.
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