Report also shows teens in British Columbia practising safer sex

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VANCOUVER - A survey of British Columbia teens shows young people are waiting longer to have sex than they were a decade ago.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia interviewed students in Grades 7 to 12 across the province in 1992, 1998 and 2003.

The B.C. Adolescent Health Survey found the number of teens who admitted having sex in 1992 had declined by a third in 2003, from 34 per cent to 23 per cent of males and from 29 per cent down to 24 per cent of females.

The number of teens who reported having sex before age 14 declined by almost half, said the survey .

"This is good news about young people, and should be reassuring for parents and health care providers," Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc, research director at the McCreary Centre Society and an associate professor at the university's school of nursing, says in a statement.

"Contrary to popular impressions, everyone isn't doing it, nor are they starting younger."

The survey found those who were having sex in 2003 were also doing so more responsibly and the number of reports on sexual violence and teen pregnancy had dropped.