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

Contraceptive use at first sexual 

intercourse 

Table 7

 and 

Figure 4

 present 

contraceptive use at first sexual intercourse 

by sexually experienced females and 

males aged 15–19. Among teen females 

in 2011–2015, 81.0% used a contraceptive 

method at first sex, an increase from 74.5% 

in 2002. The most common method used at 

first intercourse was the condom. Among 

females, 74.6% reported condom use at 

first sex, up from 68.0% in 2006–2010. 

This continues a longer-term upward 

trend since 1988 when 50.4% of females 

used condoms at first intercourse (10–12). 

The use of dual methods at first sex, that 

is, a condom combined with a hormonal 

method, increased significantly from 13.1% 

in 2002 to 18.5% in 2011–2015. This trend 

follows the patterns of condom and pill use, 

because these are the two most commonly 

combined methods: The pill was also 

commonly used at first sex (19.5% among 

teenagers in 2011–2015).

Figure 3. Methods of contraception ever used among females aged 15–19 who had ever had