By Matt Leingang
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Most teens decide if they are going to have sex within three months of dating a new boyfriend or girlfriend.

So, if parents and educators want to influence that decision, that's the time, according to a new study.

That study and others point to a need to encourage teens to delay sex, says a Cincinnati expert, as well as arm them with information on contraception.

Among teens who have sex for the first time, 24 percent started in the first month of their relationship, and 38 percent had sex within the first three months, according to a study by Child Trends, a nonprofit research center in Washington, D.C.

A minority of teenagers - 38 percent - waited four or more months for their first sexual encounter.

That three-month window is critical to helping teens make good decisions about either delaying sex or using contraception, which can help prevent unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, said Jennifer Manlove, senior research associate with Child Trends.

The study came from data on 1,027 teens, Grades 7 through 12, who were tracked in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a study paid for by the federal government in the mid-1990s.

The numbers are dated, Manlove said, but the information collected is among the best at profiling specific teen sexual conduct.

According to a 2001 survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 45 percent of all high school students have had sexual intercourse.

The study found that teens who had taken a virginity pledge waited longer to have sex, but once they broke the pledge they were 57 percent less likely to always use contraception.

"Teens who take virginity pledges might view contraception as being a symbol of what they've pledged not to do," Manlove said. "So if they are not planning to have sex, they are less likely to talk to their partner about the subject and less likely to prepare for it."

That stresses the need to have dual messages, said Sue Momeyer, president of Planned Parenthood, Cincinnati Region. "It's important, particularly among younger teens, to stress abstinence and to help them postpone or delay sexual involvement," Momeyer said. "But it's also clear that that can't be the only message. Teens need to know about contraception should sexual activity occur."

Melanie Howell, president of Abstinence Educators Network in Mason, said the data is too old to make conclusions like that. A lot has changed since the mid-1990s, when teens were surveyed for this study.

Federally funded abstinence education programs are reaching more schools and are making a positive impact, Howell said.

"We have more peer counselors than ever before to help teens maintain their abstinence commitments," Howell said.

The big decision

Teenagers who decide to have sex make the decision in the initial months of a new relationship.

 24 percent in the first month.

 38 percent in the first three months.

 38 percent after four or more months.

Source: Child Trends

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E-mail mleingang@enquirer.com