Sexual activity is defined as any bodily contact meant to give or derive sexual gratification.
! Any sexual activity is risky and is not abstinent behavior.
! Any infection or disease that is transmissible through intercourse is also transmissible by any other sexual activity.
! In the U.S. in 2000, 18.9 million new STIs – 9.1 million of these were in persons aged 15-24 (Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health, 2004)
! There is a difference between risk reduction and risk elimination. Condoms may reduce the risk of acquiring some STIs, but do not eliminate the risk of acquiring any STI.
! The major indicators of whether a person will be infected with an STI/STD in their lifetime is the age of onset of sexual activity and the number of lifetime sexual partners.
! There are over 25 different types of STDs and many of these have different strains. (“Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States: Exposing the Epidemic,” The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, November20, 1996.)
! As many as 85% of those infected with an STD show NO symptoms.
! The CDC recommends at least annual screening for sexually active individuals <25.
! As many as 15% of those infected with HIV are infected with a virus already resistant to drug treatments. (CDC)
“When you have sex with someone, you are having sex with everyone they have had sex with for the past ten years, and everyone they and their partners have had sex with for the past ten years.”
C.Everett Koop, Former US Surgeon General
! 35% of girls get pregnant at least once before age 20. (National Vital Statistics Report 49(1)2001)
! 40% of pregnant teens are 17 or younger (www.agiusa.org/pubs/teen_preg_sr_0699.html)
! 25% of teen mothers will have a second child within 24 months of the first birth.(Family Planning Perspectives, 1994;26(4):149-153)
! 52% of all mothers on welfare were teen mothers. (Moore K, et al. Child Trends, Inc. 1993)
! Only 41% of teen mothers (<18yo) ever complete high school.(Robin Hood Foundation, 1996)
! 8 out of 10 teen fathers do not marry the mother.(Robin Hood Foundation, 1996)
! Almost half of young men who impregnate a teen under 18yo are three or more years older. (Dorroch JE, et al. Family Planning Perspectives 1999, 3II(4), 160-167)
! 63% of sexually experienced adolescents 12-19yo wish they had waited longer to have sex. (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2002)
