--- title: U.S. Teenagers Are Better Behaved With Less Sex, Drinking, Bullying description: In the last year, federal data has revealed that American teenagers are drinking and smoking less than used to, bullying less, and fewer are getting pregnant. Are the teens alright? canonical: https://time.com/3897959/teenagers-bullying-adolescence/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-28T19:27:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:07.722Z article:section: Health og:title: U.S. Teenagers Are Better Behaved With Less Sex, Drinking, Bullying og:description: In the last year, federal data has revealed that American teenagers are drinking and smoking less than used to, bullying less, and fewer are getting pregnant. Are the teens alright? og:url: https://time.com/3897959/teenagers-bullying-adolescence/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bd8864423f4df60/698852213c1639169d4581d5/teen-smoking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Teenager Smoking Cigarette Boys og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. Teenagers Are Better Behaved With Less Sex, Drinking, Bullying twitter:description: In the last year, federal data has revealed that American teenagers are drinking and smoking less than used to, bullying less, and fewer are getting pregnant. Are the teens alright? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bd8864423f4df60/698852213c1639169d4581d5/teen-smoking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # U.S. Teen Trends In Sex, Bullying, Booze and More > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=fdd8fc1d-ccdb-4813-bb62-453cf054c8ea&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How I Learned About Sex [Watch (HLS stream): How I Learned About Sex](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5AudUKuq.m3u8) (3:38)  _Published 2014-11-10. Dr. Ruth and others share their stories_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 28, 2015 7:27 PM UTC  Ukraine, Kiev, boys smoking cigarettes, sunset Ukraine, Kiev, boys smoking cigarettes, sunset Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 28, 2015 7:27 PM UTC The latest statistics on teenagers paint a rosy portrait of American teens. They’re drinking, smoking and bullying less than they used to, and fewer are getting pregnant. “Adolescence is an inherently risky time,” says Dr. Stephanie Zaza, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) division of adolescent and school health. “They are stretching their wings. We can’t eliminate all risk, but we are seeing overall good trends in all areas.” Here’s a snapshot on teen behavior, based on recent reports: **Bullying** Recent [data](http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2015056) from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics showed bullying at school was on the decline. Bullying among kids ages 12 to 18 dropped to 22% in 2013\. The rate is lower than the 28-32% that was reported in all other survey years since 2005\. Even cyberbullying—the use of electronic services to harass someone—has dropped. Only 6.9% of students reported being cyberbullied in 2013 [compared to 9% in 2011](http://time.com/3881668/school-bullying-cyberbullying/). Zaza adds that bullying has often targeted LGBTQ youth, and with increasing acceptance and major policy changes regarding same-sex marriage in the news, social norms regarding sexuality may be changing too, and that may contribute to less fighting. **Smoking** Teens are smoking less, too. In the last CDC National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which analyzes health risk behaviors among high school students, revealed that the high school smoking rate had dropped to 15.7%, the lowest recorded level since the survey started in 1991\. It meant that the CDC had met its goal of lowering the adolescent smoking rate to under 16% by 2020, several years early. Zaza says what’s responsible is a combination of widespread public health initiatives and changing social norms. “When you look at excise taxes, smoking bans, quit lines, campaigns and innovations in therapies, you see this amazing trend in adult and youth tobacco use,” says Zaza. “With all of those changes came a really big change in the social norms around smoking.” Still, [data from the CDC](http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/p0416-e-cigarette-use.html) suggests that while high schools are smoking fewer cigarettes, e-cigarette use tripled among middle and high schoolers in just one year. **Drinking** The number of students who drink alcohol also dropped. Though it was still high at 35%, teens reported less physical fighting in school, and most students who were sexually active used condoms. **Sex and Babies** National teen pregnancy rates are also at a record low, with recent data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) showing a continuous drop over the last 20 years, with a 10% decline just between 2012 and 2013\. It’s unclear what is driving the decrease, but it appears teenagers are [less sexually active](http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/) than they have been in the past, and teens that are sexually active report using some form of birth control. “There’s no doubt birth control and sex education are the most important factors in reducing unintended teen pregnancy,” Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood said in an email. “Teens are increasingly using IUDs and implants, which are the most reliable methods of birth control.” America’s teen pregnancy rate is at a record low, but it’s still higher than many developing countries. **Texting While Driving etc.** Zaza says she’s worried about the number of teens who text and drive—41%—as well as the nearly 18% of teens who report using prescription drugs without a prescription. “I worry about these numbers,” says Zaza, adding that there’s still room for improvement. ## Transcript Where I grew up in Germany, I believed that it's the stork who brings babies to this world. Mother, is it wrong to feel [ MUSIC ] Warm and affectionate when you, when you're with a boy you really like? No dear, it is not wrong. My mom had no problem talking about it. She just said, wait 'til you get married. Maybe, like, when I was in first grade. Around fifth grade. I was about seventh grade. I do remember my mother and grandmother wanted to tell me about the facts of life. I was playing hide and go seek with my friends. Someone got rid of all their, their whole stash of pornos. Like, [ LAUGH ] [ UNKNOWN ]. I pick it up and I'm just like, this is the greatest thing I ever seen. I didn't know that I would talk about sex for my entire professional life. And now I'm 86, and I'm still talking about relationships and sex . >> I remember accidentally coming across what sex was really like on the Playboy channel when we finally got cable TV [ LAUGH ] [ MUSIC ] Sexuality education has to start at a very early age. Your belly button, it's too small. Mary, the baby doesn't come out of your navel. Let me tell you how it is. The first time I had a talk talk was in seventh grade health class. My father was so old- fashioned that. It was just I got sort of Andy back before. He would be like go talk to your brother, and he'd go, go talk to Mom. Asians don't really get that talk. It's just the, the conversations aren't there. You know, like the story of the birds and the bees I don't know that story. I don't know, I still don't know what that is. [ LAUGH ] They told me you could get pregnant by eating watermelon seeds and drinking water and eating dirt. Which I did [ LAUGH ] throwing up, I was throwing up mud when my mom got home. When the sperm and the egg get together they make a tiny person. So tiny that not even the mother knows it's there for the first few weeks. When I was a child I just thought, oh it's bad. It's bad unless you get married. And now that I'm adult I understand there's nothing wrong with that. Good sexuality education. That starts when a child is growing up is going to be beneficial for that child for the rest of his or her life. Coming from a Pentecostal Christian family, I was definitely. Not only challenging to be trying to find myself, around my sexuality and my gender identity. But I just remember always feeling this conflict of being very curious about it but then feeling very very dirty and just wrong at the same time. mom, you know, taught us a lot about self esteem and self love and it comes here first inside. Not to run off and find it in someone else. I think that when you, when you make something so taboo to somebody, you make them even more curious about it. I've realized that this really, ultimately, is about companionship and love and togetherness. I think if they say, okay, it's okay for us to talk about sex, I think they'll think, oh, more people are gonna have it. It's okay to be a sexual being. I don't think we talk enough about trust and sex. We talk a lot about love and sex and of course we want to say oh I love you, I love you and that's all that matters. But no, we also have to trust one another. And if you don't trust somebody then don't make yourself that vulnerable, which we do. In sex we're very vulnerable to one another. 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