TellThem!

By Shannon Pettypiece

June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Teen sex hasn't declined since 2001, according to a government study, even after the U.S. nearly doubled spending on abstinence-only programs.

The percentage of teens who said they had sex increased to 47.8 percent last year compared with 45.6 percent in 2001, though the gain wasn't large enough to conclude it's a rising trend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today. Condom use fell to 61.5 percent in 2007 from 63 percent in 2003, the survey of high school students found.

The Bush administration has more than doubled grants for abstinence programs since 1999 to a proposed $191 million in next year's budget. The programs limit discussions of contraceptives and advocate that teens avoid sex. The CDC study didn't attempt to explain why teen sex isn't declining and condom use isn't rising, as happened during the 1990s.

``It is bad news,'' said Howell Wechsler, director of CDC's division of adolescent and school health. ``We were making successful progress in the 1990s and since 2001 and 2003 we are flattening out.''

The CDC has surveyed teenagers every two years since 1991. The 2007 results showed fewer teens engaged in risky behavior including sex, drinking and smoking cigarettes compared with data from 10 to 16 years ago. The decline of teen sex began to diminish in 2001 and a decline in the use of condoms began in 2003, the study said.

Stanley Koutstall of the Administration for Children and Families, which oversees two of the three government abstinence programs, pointed toward a decline in teen sex since 1998 when the government provided its first round of abstinence funding.

Most at Risk

``By law, our abstinence education programs are charged with helping those most at risk, therefore data like this informs us where the greatest needs are so we can adapt or adjust our programs accordingly,'' said Koutstall, acting associate commissioner for the family and youth services bureau of the Administration for Children and Families, in a statement.

The CDC study also found that Hispanic teenagers more often engaged in risky behavior than black or white teenagers. Hispanic teens were more likely to commit suicide or abuse intravenous drugs than their peers, the study said. More than 10 percent of Hispanics said they had made a suicide plan in the last 12 months and about 7 percent attempted suicide.

``That is alarming and unacceptable and we need to do something now,'' said Glenn Flores, professor of pediatrics and public health at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Hispanic teens' feelings of depression and hopelessness could come from difficulty integrating with American culture and economic strains on many immigrant families, Flores said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in New York at spettypiece@bloomberg.net