--- title: Fewer High School Students Are Having Sex, CDC Says description: A new report from CDC researchers finds that fewer high school students are having sex. canonical: https://time.com/5087451/fewer-high-school-students-are-having-sex/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-04T18:02:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:08.273Z article:section: Health og:title: Fewer High School Students Are Having Sex og:description: Teen pregnancy has been consistently dropping, and this might be why og:url: https://time.com/5087451/fewer-high-school-students-are-having-sex/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef7384384760440d/6987788c0b72e312986dcfd0/condom-sex-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Condoms Sex og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fewer High School Students Are Having Sex twitter:description: Teen pregnancy has been consistently dropping, and this might be why twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef7384384760440d/6987788c0b72e312986dcfd0/condom-sex-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fewer High School Students Are Having Sex > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=28da806e-4658-4a54-9d9d-b8c753d14261&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Untreatable Gonorrhea is Spreading. Here's What You Need to Know [Watch (HLS stream): Untreatable Gonorrhea is Spreading. Here's What You Need to Know](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eTVCaayf.m3u8) (1:41)  _Published 2017-11-01. As drug-resistant gonorrhea rapidly spreads around the world, one team of researchers may have a strategy to combat it_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jan 4, 2018 6:02 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jan 4, 2018 6:02 PM UTC Across the U.S., the number of high school students who report having sex has dropped, according to new federal data. The [report](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm665152a1.htm?s%5Fcid=mm665152a1%5Fw), based on a nationwide self-reported survey of high school students and published by researchers at the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://www.cdc.gov/) (CDC), found that the proportion of students who said they had ever had sexual intercourse dropped from 47% in 2005 to 41% in 2015, the latest data available. This decline in sex among high school students is likely a contributing factor to key recent trends: teen birth rates [hit a record low](http://time.com/4311581/teen-birth-rate-all-time-low/) in 2017, and teen pregnancy has been [consistently dropping](https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-development/reproductive-health-and-teen-pregnancy/teen-pregnancy-and-childbearing/trends/index.html). The study authors say that more research is needed to understand the trend and to help it continue. A decline in younger people having sex is a positive change for public health, according to the CDC. Having sex at an early age is associated with having more sexual partners overall, not using condoms, teen pregnancy and having sexually transmitted infections at a young age. **MORE:** [No, Birth Control Doesn’t Make You Have Riskier Sex, Researchers Say](http://time.com/4975951/donald-trump-birth-control-mandate-sexual-behavior/) One reason for the drop is that fewer younger students—those in 9th and 10th grade—reported having sex, the researchers noted. They did not see a drop in sexual activity for 11th and 12th grade students. Fewer black students in all grades said they had sex, and fewer Hispanic students in three grades said the same. “\[This\] represent\[s\] positive changes among groups of students who have been determined in previous studies to be at higher risk for negative outcomes associated with early sexual initiation,” the researchers write. Though the study does not look at potential reasons for why fewer young people are having sex, the researchers note that a lot changed in the U.S. from 2005 to 2015, including a proliferation in technology and social media use as well as requirements and funding for education in preventing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. [Other federal data](http://time.com/3773686/best-birth-control-teens/) shows that most teenagers are now using contraception when they have sex. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5087451/fewer-high-school-students-are-having-sex/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5087451/fewer-high-school-students-are-having-sex/"},"headline":"Fewer High School Students Are Having Sex","datePublished":"2018-01-04T18:02:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:08.273Z","description":"A new report from CDC researchers finds that fewer high school students are having sex.","url":"https://time.com/5087451/fewer-high-school-students-are-having-sex/","keywords":["Sex/Relationships","Teens","Sex","CDC","Reproductive Health","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef7384384760440d/6987788c0b72e312986dcfd0/condom-sex-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef7384384760440d/6987788c0b72e312986dcfd0/condom-sex-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock photos Condoms Sex","caption":"TIME.com stock photos Condoms Sex","creditText":"Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/sexrelationships/","name":"Sex/Relationships"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5087451/fewer-high-school-students-are-having-sex/","name":"Fewer High School Students Are Having Sex"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Untreatable Gonorrhea is Spreading. 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