Trends in Vaginal Intercourse Experience and Timing among Adolescent Men in the United States: A Descriptive Analysis by Race/Ethnicity

Abstract

Recent reports of declining prevalence of vaginal intercourse (VI) experience among adolescent men are largely silent on differences by race and ethnicity. This visualization illustrates trends by race/ethnicity in VI experience, average age at first VI, and age-specific cumulative probabilities of VI experience for young men, using retrospective data from multiple rounds of the National Survey of Family Growth covering 2006 to 2019. The authors find that although VI engagement is declining universally, the decline is substantially more pronounced among Black men than among their White and Hispanic peers. Although young Black men continue to engage in VI at higher rates and earlier ages, recent trends are narrowing long-standing racial/ethnic differences.

Engagement in sexual activity during adolescence is both developmentally important and normative (Tolman and McClelland 2011), yet recent analyses of survey data point to a decline in the share of adolescents in the United States who have ever engaged in vaginal intercourse (VI) (Abma and Martinez 2023; Holway, Brewster, and Tillman 2020, 2022) and an increase in their average age at first VI (Abma and Martinez 2023; Lindberg, Firestein, and Beavin 2021), with changes especially evident among young men. Given the long-standing and well-documented differences across race and ethnic groups in VI prevalence and timing (Manlove et al. 2006), we ask whether these recent changes in young men’s sexual experience are universal across or contingent on race and ethnicity.

We use data from the 2006–2010, 2011–2015, and 2015–2019 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) to estimate trends in adolescent VI prevalence and timing for young men who self-identified as White but not Hispanic, Black but not Hispanic, or Hispanic of any race.

Figure 1A shows a decreased prevalence of VI experience in 2015–2019 relative to 2011–2015 in two of the three racial/ethnic groups. The share of young White men reporting VI decreased by 10 points, from 43 percent to 33 percent, while young Black men experienced a 12-point decline, from 58 percent to 46 percent. Average age at first VI increased in all three racial/ethnic groups between 2011–2015 and 2015–2019 (Figure 1B). The increase was most pronounced among young Black men, whose average age at first VI rose from 14.4 to 15.0 years, an increase of more than seven months. Their Hispanic peers experienced a six-month increase (from 14.9 to 15.4 years), while average age at first VI increased by almost five months among young White men (from 15.6 to 16.0 years).

Figure 1.

Trends in young men’s first experience with vaginal intercourse before age 20: (A) percentage reporting adolescent vaginal intercourse with 95 percent confidence intervals, by survey and race/ethnicity; (B) average age at first vaginal intercourse, by survey and race/ethnicity; and (C) cumulative probability of vaginal intercourse by age, survey, and race/ethnicity.

Figure 1C illustrates the slower progression to sexual experience implied by the increasing age at first VI. This change was especially pronounced among young Black men, whose age-specific probabilities of VI were markedly lower at every age—13 points lower, on average—in 2015–2019 than in 2006–2010. For example, in 2015–2019, 57 percent of Black men had experienced first VI by age 17, down from 70 percent in 2006–2010. Among Hispanic men, the age-specific probabilities were seven points lower, on average, in 2015–2019 compared with 2006–2010, and among White men, the age-specific probabilities averaged 2 points lower.

The decline in young men’s VI engagement is apparent in all three racial/ethnic groups, although it is most pronounced among young Black men. Regardless of race/ethnicity, the age-specific probabilities of VI engagement decreased over time, and their average age at first VI increased. Although differences remain, with rates of VI lower among White men than among their Hispanic and Black peers, all three groups are delaying VI to older ages. More research is needed to better understand the individual, cultural, and societal factors motivating this delay.

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-1-srd-10.1177_23780231241245841 – Supplemental material for Trends in Vaginal Intercourse Experience and Timing among Adolescent Men in the United States: A Descriptive Analysis by Race/Ethnicity

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-srd-10.1177_23780231241245841 for Trends in Vaginal Intercourse Experience and Timing among Adolescent Men in the United States: A Descriptive Analysis by Race/Ethnicity by Giuseppina Valle Holway and Karin L. Brewster in Socius