Chicago Teens Drink, Do Drugs, Have Sex

By Margaret Lyons in News on Jun 5, 2008 7:29PM

Newsflash: Teenagers like drugs and fucking! Sun hot, water wet, Jolie attractive, Hawking smart. And so on.

But seriously folks, this year's Youth Risk Behavior Study says that 56.9 percent of Chicago teenagers have had sex, 4 in 10 are currently sexually active*, and 44 percent have tried smoking pot.

Other stats:

• 18.7 percent of boys report having intercourse for the first time before age 13; 5.8 percent of girls say they have
• 17.8 percent have carried a weapon
• 12.8 percent didn't go to school at least once in the last month because they felt unsafe. The national average is 5.5 percent.
• 10.1 percent attempted suicide; national average is 6.9 percent
• 18.1 percent have had sex with more than four partners
• 61.9 percent of boys and 42.3 percent of girls played on at least one sports team in the last year
• 11.3 percent of boys and girls say they've been physically forced to have sex when they didn't want to
• 20 percent have had five or more drinks in a row within the last month
• 25 percent drank alcohol before they were 13
• 67.8 percent used a condom the last time they had sex
• 45.4 percent were trying to lose weight

The CDC conducts the YRBS every two years, and it relies on self-reporting on a pencil-and-paper questionnaire. [Trib]

*I know people think this is lame, but it cracks me up. When my doctor asks me if I'm sexually active, I say "no, I just lay there." Yes, I really say this. Yes, the doctor laughs. It rules.