Trends in Sexual Risk Behavior Among High School Students—United States, 1990, 1991, and 1993

Abstract

Since the early 1980s, adolescents in the United States have experienced high rates of unintended pregnancies (1) and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (2), including HIV infection (3). Since 1990, CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System has enabled measurement of priority health-risk behaviors among high school students at the national, state, and local levels (4). This report examines data from the 1990, 1991, and 1993 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)* to describe trends in selected self-reported sexual risk behaviors among U.S. high school students.