Teens and the Rhythm Method

Fewer teens worried about pregnancy; more use rhythm method.
The CBS Evening News (6/2, story 10, 0:25 Couric) reported, "More of America's teenagers are turning to one of the oldest methods of birth" control: the "rhythm method." The newly released report from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics also reveals that "64% of teenaged boys believe its okay for an unmarried female to have a child. That's up from half."
In fact, "among teens in the USA, the percentage who have had sexual intercourse or say they'd be pleased if they or their partner were to get pregnant hasn't changed much since early in the decade, and there appears to be a growing acceptance of having babies outside marriage," USA Today (6/3, Rubin) reports. One expert, who was not involved in the study, pointed out that "given the publicity about unmarried celebrities having babies and the growing number of single mothers overall...it's not surprising that teens are more accepting of the notion."
But, it hasn't always been that way, considering the "teen birth rate declined steadily from 1991 through 2005," AP (6/3, Stobbe) reports. In 2007, however, the rate rose. Then "it dropped again in 2008, by two percent, to about 10 percent of all births." The new report from the CDC may help explain why the "decline in childbearing stalled out."
The researchers began their investigation by looking at data "collected through in-person interviews with 2,767 teenagers ages 15 to 19," Bloomberg News (6/3, Gibson) reports. Investigators eventually found that "among never-married females, 42 percent reported having sex at least once," while 43 percent of men said they had engaged in sexual relationships. Interestingly, the "number of boys who chose 'don't want to get female pregnant' as the reason for avoiding sex fell by half to 12 percent from the last survey."