Courtship, cohabitation, and adolescent sexuality
Main article: Adolescent sexuality in the United States
Couples often meet through religious institutions, work, school, or friends. "Dating services," services that are geared to assist people in finding partners, are popular both on and offline. The trend over the past few decades has been for more and more couples deciding to cohabit before, or instead of, getting married. The 2000 Census reported 9.7 million different-sex partners living together and about 1.3 million same-sex partners living together. Some states now have domestic partner statutes and judge-made palimony doctrines that confer some legal support for unmarried couples.[citation needed]Adolescent sex is common; in 2010 most Americans first had intercourse in their late teens.[55] While few teens have had sex at age 15, by age 18 slightly more than half of females and nearly two-thirds of males have had intercourse.[56] More than half of sexually active teens have had sexual partners they were dating.[57][58] Risky sexual behaviors that involve "anything intercourse related" are "rampant" among teenagers.[59] Teen pregnancies in the United States decreased 28% between 1990 and 2000 from 117 pregnancies per every 1,000 teens to 84 per 1,000.[60] The U.S. is rated, based on 2002 numbers, 84 out of 170 countries based on teenage fertility rate, according to the World Health Organization.[61]
In 2006, approximately one out of every four sexually active person 15–24, contracted a sexually transmitted infection, particularly pappilomavirus, Trichomoniasis, and chlamydia.[62]
No comments:
Post a Comment