What Puts Teens at Risk?
One of the key purposes of the Add Health survey is not only to determine the prevalence of sexual intercourse as well as a host of other potentially health-compromising behaviors among teenagers but also to assess the various factors that place adolescents at risk for such activity. And as one would expect, results from the Add Health survey show that teens’ reports of ever having had sexual intercourse increase dramatically with grade level, from 16% among seventh and eighth graders to 60% among eleventh and twelfth graders. Additionally, the Add Health survey reaffirms the findings of a large body of existing research that teenagers who are black or from low-income or single-parent families are more likely to have had sexual intercourse than their peers. Early Add Health findings may provide more guidance to parents than to policymakers on how to help teens postpone sexual activity. But one of the Add Health survey’s greatest strengths is that it is designed to help researchers go b
