Abstract

One hundred and one pregnant girls aged under 18 years were interviewed to collect information about the development of their sexual awareness, attitudes towards relationships, and about their social context. The data show that the girls were likely to come from homes where the parents were divorced, where the mother married when she was under 21 years of age, and where her first child was conceived out of wedlock. Altogether 76 of these pregnant girls first had intercourse before they were 16 years old. The younger the girl at first intercourse the sooner it occurred in the relationship and for almost half of the girls first intercourse was unplanned. Although almost half used contraception on the first occasion, only one third of the girls used contraceptives regularly. Most expressed the wish that they had delayed intercourse until they were older.