Just over half of teenagers surveyed in 1997 now say they are not sexually active

ATLANTA (CNN) -- For the first time this decade, teen-agers who are not sexually active are in the majority, according to a new government survey.

The statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate less than half of all teens say they've engaged in sexual intercourse.

"In addition, we found among young people who are engaging in intercourse, we've had an increase in the percentage of those who are using a condom," said Dr. Lloyd Kolbe, director of the CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health.

A 1997 nationwide survey of 16,262 students showed the fewest number of students are having sex, or engaging in risky sexual behavior, since the biyearly survey was started by the CDC in 1991.

In the survey, 52 percent of students said they had never had sexual intercourse, compared with 46 percent in 1991. Of the students having sex, 57 percent said they used a condom the last time they had sex, up from 46 percent in 1991.

Other statistics from the CDC study indicate:

• Sixteen percent of high schoolers said they had sex with four or more partners, compared with 19 percent seven years ago.
• Fifty-two percent of girls and 51 percent of boys said they were not sexually active.
• The percentage of African-American students who had sex fell 8 points from 1991 to 1997, to 73 percent, while the percentage for whites fell 6 points to 44 percent. For Hispanics, the rate dropped less than 1 percent to 52 percent.

Kolbe credited sex education efforts by schools, health officials and parents and warnings about teen pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases.

Kolbe said he is still concerned by the statistical portrait of teen sexual activity.

"Unfortunately, we're seeing less decreases among females and among Hispanic high school students," Kolbe said. "We're not quite sure why that's happening."

The CDC also warned that not all teen-agers are included in the study since up to 5 percent drop out of high school.

Still, Kolbe said the findings are important. The increase in sexual abstinence is significant since sex among teen-agers rapidly increased in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1988, 57 percent of teen-age girls said they were having sex compared with 29 percent in 1970.