40pc US teens sexually active, prefer rhythm method of birth control: Study

New York, June 4 (ANI): Forty percent teen girls aged 15 to 19 say they've had sex at least once and prefer the rhythm method of birth control, according to new statistics.

The report also found that youngsters are casual about pregnancy, which researchers say may help explain why the teen pregnancy rate is no longer dropping, as it was earlier.

Overall, teenage use birth control methods and teen attitudes toward pregnancy have remained about the same since a similar survey was done in 2002.

There are some bright results too - more girls prefer the rhythm method- timing sex to avoid fertile days to prevent getting pregnant- probably along with another form of birth control. That's up from 11 percent in 2002.

However, the rhythm method is only 75 per cent effective.

The survey results were based on face-to-face interviews with nearly 2,800 teens ages 15 through 19 at their homes in the years 2006 through 2008.

"We've known the decline in childbearing stalled out. This report kind of fills in the why," The New York Daily News quoted Bill Albert, a spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. (ANI)