And Now...For some good news!

No you are not reading my other blog, Escapades!  I just decided after all of the bad news lately about Penn State and the Mass Murders in Aurora...It might be good to talk about something else for a change...something the world needs more of...Love...yes...Sex definitely...but not too soon and better after you are happily married.

A survey recently stated that Black teenagers in the United States have become much less sexually active over the past two decades, and those who do have sex appear to be more likely to use condoms. Yes ..it's true...In this age of HIV and Hypersexuality and out of wedlock births...It appears to be true if this survey is to be believed.


The declines are "dramatic," said report author Laura Kann, who studies adolescent health for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The numbers don't disclose anything about why black teens might have changed their behavior. "This tells us what kids do, but not why," Laura Kann said.
Overall, teens of all racial and ethnic groups are about as sexually active as they were a decade ago. And the rate of condom use by teens -- just six in 10 used them the last time they had sex -- hasn't changed much since the 1990s.

By contrast, the numbers for black teens are strikingly different. The percentage who reported ever having sex fell from 82 percent in 1991 to 60 percent in 2011. Ms. Kann said the numbers coincide with drops in teen pregnancy and births.

Increased education about HIV/AIDS among blacks, leadership in the black community and a public health focus on black Americans could explain the change, Ms. Kann said. Of course I and leaders in the Black community have been saying this for the past twenty years...It looks as if it's finally sinking in.

the new CDC teen-sex survey also reveals that:

• The percentages of students who've had sex have remained fairly stable over the last 20 years for Hispanic students (49 percent in 2011) and whites (44 percent in 2011).
• Overall, 47 percent of all teens surveyed said they'd ever had sex, down from 54 percent in 1991. The rate has barely changed since 2001.
• About one-third of students said they'd had sex within the past three months, and 15 percent said they'd had sex with four or more partners.
• The percentage of sexually active teens who use condoms grew from 46 percent in 1991 to 60 percent in 2011, although the number hasn't changed much in recent years. Black teens are more likely to use condoms: their rate is 65 percent.

The recent stabilization of condom use could have something to do with less focus on HIV, which has largely become a treatable disease, Kann said. Also, "the percentage of high school students overall who have had HIV education has dropped since 1997. That hasn't helped any either."

The new survey results come from the CDC's National Youth Risk Behavior Survey of students in grades 9 through 12 from both public and private schools. About 15,000 students take the surveys each year.
Jennifer Manlove, area director of Fertility and Family Structure with the Child Trends advocacy group in Washington, D.C., said the survey shows that much of the evolution toward less sexual activity occurred in the 1990s, even among black teens.

"There's been a little bit more since 2000, but not really that much. The big news in the 1990s was the real focus on the AIDS epidemic and a lot of attention given to that," she said.

Just when I was losing hope in some of our youth...Just when I thought that nobody was talking about HIV seriously...I get this news and a ray of hope..

More so than just HIV  and STD's...The glut of unwwed mothers has been a concern of mine also...Unwed mothers in their teens had become damn near epidemic in the 1990s and I was concerned about the social and economic welfare of both the mother and children who were almost surely doomed to poverty...

If this survey is on the money and young people are holding off on having babies and practicing safe sex...It tells me that one, the number of people being born into poverty may decrease and with that, the public doles will also decrease and two...our young people are starting to think seriously about their lives and their well being.

In a world of diminishing hope and values...That alone is a reason to cheer!