The primary data source for this project was the NSFG, Cycle V, together with a number of secondary data sources noted in the Acknowledgments. The NSFG is a nationally representative survey, conducted by the Research Triangle Institute under contract with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), of 10 847 females who were between the ages of 15 and 44 years in 1995. Details with regard to the interview procedures are available elsewhere.12 Briefly, interviews took place during the first 10 months of 1995 and focused on issues of reproductive health, pregnancy, and childbearing. Detailed demographic and family information was collected, although information having to do with respondents’ labor market outcomes and opportunities was not. Particularly sensitive questions were heard over headphones, and the respondent entered her own answers into a notebook computer.
Because our focus was on teen behavior, we restricted our sample to unmarried women aged 15 through 19 years. Means for this sample of 1 280 individuals are presented in Table 1 ▶. Thirty-eight percent of respondents reported that they were sexually active, defined as having had intercourse in the 3 months before being interviewed. Of those who were sexually active, only 70.2% reported using contraceptives during their last sexual encounter. Given current concern about high teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates, this figure suggests the importance of identifying policies and practices that effectively discourage unprotected sex.