THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 25, 1994 TAG: 9411250102
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
The results from the first statewide survey on adolescent sexual behavior didn't particularly surprise most teenagers, but the statistics shocked school administrators.
Nearly three-quarters of the high school students reported having had sex by the 12th grade - and one out of six said they'd lost their virginity by the age of 13.
Moreover, nearly half of them are not using condoms, despite all the talk of AIDS and teen pregnancy.
``When you look at the numbers, they're shocking,'' said Bob Etheridge, state superintendent of schools.
In fact, Etheridge at first attributed the numbers to the boasts of adolescent boys.
But the North Carolina study is part of a national Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted every two years by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. According to the CDC, North Carolina's statistics are comparable to the national figures, which will be released in 1995.
One in five sexually active high school students said they had had sex with six or more partners. Nearly 15 percent of those teens reported using alcohol or other drugs when they last had sex.
Only 13 percent said they used birth control pills to prevent pregnancy, while 19 percent said they used no birth control at all and 15 percent said they used the withdrawal method - notoriously unreliable.
Not surprisingly, one out of 10 students said they had gotten pregnant or impregnated someone - a figure that would be much higher if all the girls who got pregnant stayed in school instead of dropping out.
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which also includes sections on topics such as violence and nutrition, was sent to 71 of the state's 407 public schools with students in grades nine through 12.
Twelve of the schools did not participate, four required parental permission and six did not include the sexual behavior questions. In the end, 2,439 students were included in the survey - 65 percent white, 28 percent black, 1 percent Hispanic and 5 percent ``other.''
This is the second time the state participated in the broader risk behavior survey. However, education department officials two years ago decided not to include the sexuality questions in their report, saying the schools were not prepared for the controversy.
The sexual behavior results this time were released at the request of The News & Observer of Raleigh.
KEYWORDS: TEENAGER SEX SEX EDUCATION POLL SURVEY NORTH CAROLINA
by CNB