Adolescent boys were less sexually active in the late 1990s than they were earlier in the decade, but probably not by choice. An 8.5 percent decline in sexual activity among 15- to 17-year-old males means that less than half of this cohort was sexually active in 1997 (down from 54 percent in 1991). One researcher ascribes the spike in celibacy to teen girls' increasing power within a relationship. "Adolescent sexuality hasn't slowed down, male behavior is just more controlled by female behavior," says Pepper Schwartz, Ph.D., a sociologist at the University of Washington. Schwartz's study, published in the journal Contexts, analyzed data on more than 10,000 teens, compiled by the Center for Disease Control.
The overall rate of sexual activity declined by 5.7 percent, and the number of pregnancies, abortions and sexually transmitted diseases also fell in the 1990s. Schwartz views this as proof that teens are "better educated and less embarrassed" about sex.
