National Health Statistics Reports, Number 104, June 22, 2017

Reasons for not having had sex 

Teenagers who have not yet had sex 

make up more than one-half of the teen 

population (57.6% of females and 55.8% of 

males). Data on their reasons for not having 

had sex aids in understanding the context of 

teen decision making about sexual activity.

In 2011–2015, the most common 

reason female teenagers chose for not 

having had sex, among the categories 

provided, was that it was ‘‘against religion 

or morals’’ (

Table 4

). A total of 35.3% of 

female teenagers who had not yet had sex 

chose this as their main reason, followed 

by “haven’t found the right person yet” 

(21.9%) and “don’t want to get pregnant” 

(19.3%). Among male teenagers, the most 

common reasons cited for not having had 

sex were “against religion or morals” 

(27.9%) and “haven’t found the right 

person yet” (28.5%), followed by “don’t 

want to get (a female) pregnant” (21.2%).