Report shows good signs for nation’s youth
Fewer high school students are having sex and more are using condoms, the teenage birthrate hit a record low, more young people are finishing high school, and more tots are being read to.
The report is scheduled to be released Friday by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, a consortium of federal agencies that includes the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Census Bureau and the Administration for Children and Families.
In 2005, 47 percent of high school students — 6.7 million — reported having had sexual intercourse, down from 54 percent in 1991. The rate of those who reported having had sex had remained the same since 2003.
Of those who reported having had sex during a three-month period in 2005, 63 percent — about 9 million — said they used condoms. That is an increase from the 46 percent reported in 1991.
The teenage birth rate in 2005, the report said, was 21 per 1,000 young women ages 15 to 17 — an all-time low. The rate in 1991 was 39 births per 1,000 teenagers.
Other major points of the report include the following:
¶The percentage of children covered by health insurance decreased slightly. In 2005, 89 percent of children had health insurance coverage at some point during the year, compared with 90 percent the previous year.
¶More youngsters were being read to. Sixty percent of children ages 3 to 5, and not in kindergarten, were read to daily by a family member in 2005, an increase from 53 percent in 1993.
¶The percentage of children who had at least one parent working year round and full time increased to 78.3 percent in 2005 from 77.6 percent in the previous year.
¶More young people were completing high school. In 2005, 88 percent of young adults had finished high school compared with 84 percent in 1980.
The report was compiled from statistics and studies at 22 federal agencies, and covered 38 indicators, including infant mortality, academic achievement rates and the number of children living in poverty.
nytimes
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