NEW YORK — The share of U.S. black teenagers who have had sex dropped 22 percentage points in the past two decades, a turn in behavior that brings the group closer in-line with the overall teen sex rate, government data show.
About 60 percent of black high school students surveyed in 2011 reported having had sex, down from 82 percent in 1991, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released Tuesday at the International AIDS Conference in Washington. The sex rate for all teenagers, regardless of race, fell about 7 percentage points to 47 percent.
In addition to the increasing share of black teens who have never had sex, those who are active cite fewer partners than previous generations. The number with four or more sex partners declined to 25 percent from 43 percent, the study shows. The data is being presented at a conference that has partly focused on the HIV rates among black Americans.
In 2011, 47 percent of all U.S. teens reported having had sex at least once, compared with 46 percent in 2001 and 54 percent in 1991. Among whites, 44 percent of high school students surveyed in 2011 reported ever having sex, compared with a low of 42 percent in 2003 and 50 percent in 1991.