The Teenage Sexual Revolution and the Myth of an Abstinent Past

Abstract

Reasons for the rise in teenage illegitimacy are discussed. In the past relatively poor health conditions may have moderated the consequences of nonmarital teen-age sex. Improved health conditions appear to have increased the chances that an out-of-wedlock conception will be carried to term and have also increased the capacity of sexually active young girls to conceive. The myth of an abstinent past and a promiscuous present is indeed a myth. Aside from substantial increases in premarital sex among young whites there is no evidence that a change in nonmarital sex of revolutionary proportions has occurred since 1940 among either white or nonwhite teenagers.