Teens on Sex: What They Say Teens Today Need to Know, And Who They Listen To

A national random-sample telephone survey of 1,510 teenagers age 12-18, conducted for the Foundation by Princeton Survey Research Associates between March 28, 1996 and May 5, 1996. The survey finds that most teens have enough information about how girls get pregnant, but not how to use different kinds of birth control. The survey also revealed a number of misperceptions about the consequences of pregnancy and that most teens say a common reason teens do get pregnant is that they don’t think it will happen to them. These findings were presented at a briefing held in New York on June 24, 1996, co-sponsored by Kaiser Family Foundation, the National Press Foundation and The Alan Guttmacher Institute, as part of an ongoing briefing series for journalist on reproductive health issues: Emerging Issues in Reproductive Health.