Abstract

        Where in Canada is teen sex most prevalent for those aged 14 to 17? Among what groups is the difference between the activity of girls and boys widest? How are variables such as age, education and religion of the parent, related to the likelihood of teen sex, or to other high risk behaviours and school performance? These are some of the questions prompting this study, which lays out the facts in considerable detail. There is also a brief discussion of what the Bible says about sex outside of marriage.

        Some 330,000 of Canada's 1,233,000 teens aged 14 to 17 claim to have had sexual intercourse, or 27% - this is called the sex rate in this study. This rate is higher for girls, 29%, than boys, 25%, and rises steeply with age: 11% for 14 year olds, 15% for 15 year olds, 30% for 16 year olds, and 52% for 17 year olds. The rate is highest in Québec, 38%, followed by Newfoundland, 32%; it is lowest, from 20% to 22%, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

        The higher sex rates tend to be associated with the teens in less fortunate circumstances, with less educated parents, with unmarried parents, living in apartments, and lower income households for example. The less fortunate are the very groups least able to deal with the side effects or other problems related to sexual activity.

        Concerning related problems, teens with unhealthy lifestyles, friends with high-risk behaviors, and having relationship problems and school problems tend to be more sexually active.

        Analysis at the Canada level revealed no difference between teen girls and boys in their likelihood to have had sexual intercourse, after controlling for the effect of the other factors, but an increasing likelihood with teen age, and decreasing likelihood with the main parent's age, education, worship frequency, weeks worked past year, and if the parent was married.

        The analysis at the Canada-wide level also revealed, after controlling for the effect of the other factors, a higher likelihood of sex in the Atlantic provinces and Québec when compared with Ontario, and no difference between Ontario and the either the Prairie provinces or British Columbia.

        These results, both from an examination of the tables and analytical estimates, have policy implications for governments, courts, schools, places of worship and parents: any incentives or messages that would tend to encourage pre-marital sex would hurt the less fortunate more than others; conversely, disincentives and negative messages would help the less fortunate more than other teens.