Teen sex

Teen pregnancy rates in the United States have fallen in recent years, but the country still has a higher rate than any other developed country, according to data released Thursday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

OGDEN -- The stereotype is that teenagers are impulsive and use their immature brains to take stupid risks without considering the consequences.

That stereotype is wrong.

"We've been selling them short," said Leigh Shaw, Weber State University associate professor of psychology, who conducted a new study with department head Eric Amsel. "Certain groups of teens are more thoughtful than we have given them credit for before, and have reasons to engage or not engage in risky behavior."

Sex education is working, and that's exactly what is needed around the world to stop the AIDS epidemic.

That's the opinion of Robert Fai (www.bobdanierla.com), an expert who has seen the ravages of AIDS in Africa and around the world, and is encouraged by a new study that shows how increased awareness can result in better personal responsibility.

ATLANTA -- Apparently, fewer high school and college students are having sex.

U.S. health officials say the proportion of 15- to 24-year-olds who have had some kind of sex dropped in the past decade from 78 percent to about 72 percent.

ATLANTA -- The U.S. teen birth rate hit an all-time low in 2009 -- a decline that stunned experts say is partly because of the economy.

The birth rate for teenagers fell to 39 births per 1,000 girls, ages 15 through 19, according to a government report released Tuesday. It was a 6 percent decline from the previous year, and the lowest rate since health officials started tracking that data in 1940.

DETROIT — In the wake of a reported teenage hookup turned tragedy in Huron Township, legal experts and victims-rights advocates say the state’s criminal sexual conduct laws should be reconsidered because the laws can hurt teens more than society benefits.

ATLANTA -- Teens who text 120 times a day or more -- and there seems to be a lot of them -- are more likely to have had sex or used alcohol and drugs than kids who don't send as many messages, according to provocative new research.

The study's authors aren't suggesting that "hyper-texting" leads to sex, drinking or drugs, but say it's startling to see an apparent link between excessive messaging and that kind of risky behavior.