At What Age Do American Teens Become Sexually Active?

Until now, no study has been large enough to provide satisfactory data on age at sexual debut in the four largest racial or ethnic groups in the U.S. Now, researchers analyzed data from the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (conducted from 1999 through 2007) to determine age at first coitus in 66,882 black, Latino and Latina, white, and Asian students in grades 9 through 12.

Based on self-reported data, probability for coital debut by a student's 17th birthday was 82% for black males, 74% for black females, 69% for Latinos, 59% for Latinas, 53% for white males, 58% for white females, 33% for Asian males, and 28% for Asian females.