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In a study of 1,844 suburban and rural students in Grades 7 and 8 in public schools in Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho, sexual activity was much lower than that reported by the popular media and in some scholarly journals. The difference was in part related to using measures other than asking the adolescents whether they had ever had sexual intercourse. The estimates based on those who have had sex more than just once decreased to 16% the number of adolescents who would be classified as sexually active. If the definition of sexually active is further limited to only those who have had sex recently (within the past 4 weeks), only 9% are sexually active. Further restrictions to those who have had sex 5 or more or 10 or more times reduce the percentage of sexually active adolescents to 6% and 2%, respectively. Over-all, the percentage of "sexually active" adolescents depends on the empirical definition of "sexually active," and there are many indications why "ever had sex" is not an adequate measure.

A study of 1551 high school students in four midwestern states showed that more girls than boys reported "some" or "a lot" of encouragement to abstain from having sex. More boys than girls reported societal pressure to become sexually active. The sources of encouragement for abstinence were mother, father, and teacher. The largest difference reported between boys and girls was for friends; more than twice as many girls as boys reported that friends encouraged abstinence. Virgin vs nonvirgin comparisons showed similar results, with mother and father chosen most frequently, but nonvirgins chose guest speaker instead of teacher for third place. Regarding important decision-making factors, both boys and girls selected own feelings, health, future, boy- or girlfriend, and parents' feelings. Girls considered parents' feelings more while boys rated boy- or girlfriends' feelings higher. It was concluded that society exerts a strong influence through the media, but parents have the strongest influence on adolescents' sexuality.

The effects of two family structures, single- and two-parent homes, on adolescent sexual behavior were studied. The variables of race, age, and gender were controlled. The analysis compared the age at first intercourse, frequency of intercourse in the last four weeks, and virgin/nonvirgin status of adolescents from black single-parent families, white single-parent families, black two-parent families, and white two-parent families. For males, the two-parent family was related to less sexual activity and older age at first intercourse. For females, the two-parent family was not as important as race in influencing sexual behavior. The white females from two-parent families were more likely to be virgins, but once having had sexual intercourse, tended to have a higher level of sexual activity than did black females from two-parent homes.

The effects of three abstinence sex education programs on student attitudes toward sexual activity were studied. The programs were administered to 7th- and 10th-grade students in three school districts in the State of Utah. All students were administered a pre- and posttest survey to determine attitude change. The independent variables were program, grade level, gender, and pre/posttest. The dependent variable was the combined and averaged response to 12 questions taken from the survey. There was a four-way interaction between the independent variables. The Sex Respect program produced the most positive attitude change.

In recent decades, various attempts have been made to determine the level of sexual activity among adolescents. This information has been used in the planning and evaluation of sex-related programs. However, there is a flaw in using only the initial estimates of the behavior--that a sexually active person is defined as one who has had sexual intercourse. This narrow definition distorts the perception of adolescent sexual behavior. Sexual activity can more accurately be designated by focusing on the actual frequency with which teenagers have sex. In this research report, adolescents were considered sexually active if they had had sex within the last four weeks. Using this definition, adolescents were found to be substantially less sexually active than has been previously reported. This finding was then used to look at various policy decisions in the areas of sex education, family planning, and sexually transmitted disease prevention.

The relationship between early sexual maturation and the psychosexual behaviors of dating and sexual intercourse was investigated using a national sample of adolescent females aged 15 to 19. Among both black and nonblack subjects, early-maturing girls were more likely to have experienced earlier dating and coital onset than were their later-maturing peers. Blacks experienced menarche and first intercourse at earlier ages, yet dating onset at later ages. Early menarche was also associated with marriage at an early age for nonblacks, but not for blacks. These racial differences were explained in terms of diverse socialization patterns or cultural expectations. For both blacks and nonblacks, those with earlier coital experience were found to have had menarche and dating onset at earlier ages.