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Fewer High School Kids Are Having Sex

The nerve. Now we hear that they’re drinking less, smoking less, and having less sex?

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The survey found that 41 percent said they had “ever” had sex, after it had been about 47 percent in 2007.

Patricia Folan, who heads the Center for Tobacco Control at Northwell Health, in Great Neck, N.Y., explained that several factors have brought the decline in smoking, such as “environmental tobacco bans, increased taxes on cigarettes, anti-tobacco media campaigns, as well as the removal of point-of-sale tobacco advertising from stores”.

Fortunately, electronic vapor products will finally be reined in by the tobacco deeming rule, recently released by the Food and Drug Administration.

The percentage of high school students who had been in a physical fight in the previous year decreased from 42 percent in 1991 to 23 percent in 2015.

Just under 18 percent of students said they had seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Cigarette use among teens hit its peak in 1997 at 36 percent. Less than 42 percent of teens said they have lost their virginity.

About 17 per cent of the surveyed students said they had taken prescription drugs without a prescription, in response to a question that listed as some possible examples painkillers like Oxycontin and Vicodin and ADHD drugs like Adderall and Ritalin.

The percentage of sexually active teens who used condoms dropped from 63 percent in 2003 to 57 percent in 2015.

However, when today’s teens do engage in sexual activities, they’re now more likely than ever to use some form of protection. “The YRBS helps us identify newly emerging behaviors and monitor long-standing youth risk behaviors over time”, said Laura Kann, Ph.D., chief of CDC’s School-Based Surveillance Branch.

The survey was among a series of polls that included 16,000 students at 125 schools, both public and private. These surveys monitor health risk behaviors including unintentional injuries and violence; sexual behaviors related to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection; tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use; unhealthy dietary behaviors; and physical inactivity.

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The annual CDC survey found that 24 percent of high school students reported using e-cigarettes during the past 30 days. Participation was voluntary and required parental permission, but responses were anonymous.

Not doing it: Fewer high school kids are having sex