Most Americans believe that teenage pregnancy is both a serious problem and a symptom of greater societal ills. In a 1988 Planned Parenthood poll, adults were asked if the number of teen pregnancies in the United States was a serious problem. Ninety-five percent of the public said that it was. In 1985, eighty-four percent said that it was.
Teenagers agree that teen pregnancy is an important problem.
A 1993 survey by the Opinion Research Corporation, found that about one-third of young people, like adults, think sex before marriage is always a mistake. A recent survey of more than 250,000 college freshman around the country found that support for casual sex is declining among both sexes. Most of the girls and a majority of the boys who are sexually active wish they had waited. 76 percent of girls and 58 percent of boys report that girls have sex because their boyfriends want them to. Twenty-three percent of girls who are sexually active say they have had sex with someone who refused to wear a condom.