Variation in Rates of Early Sexual Initiation in Adolescent Boys

Adolescent boys are more likely to have first sexual intercourse at an early age (i.e., before age 13 years) compared with girls. To estimate the prevalence of this behavior among U.S. adolescent boys, researchers analyzed cross-sectional data from two large-scale, nationally representative U.S. surveys. Cohorts comprised 19,916 male high school students surveyed in 2011, 2013, and 2015 through the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) and 7739 males aged 15–24 years surveyed in 2006–2010 and 2011–2015 cycles of the household-based National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG).

Eight percent of YRBSS respondents and 4% of NSFG respondents reported sexual initiation before age 13 years. In both populations, the rate of early sexual initia…