"Best Bets" to Prevent Contracting STDs:
Encourage Teens to Date Peers Close to Their Own Age

Most of the literature on partner characteristics provides information on the age of the sexual partner, and in many cases, the male partner is older than the female partner (Darroch, Landry, & Oslak, 1999a). The likelihood of a pregnancy occurring during an adolescent female's first sexual relationship increases as the male partner's age increases (Zavodny, 2001). Furthermore, Landry and Forrest (1995) found that fathers were older than mothers, particularly among teenage parents. Darroch et al. (1999a) found that teenagers were more likely than older women to have a partner within two years of their age; however, teenagers were also more likely than older woman to report having a partner three to five years older. Having a sexual partner seven years or more older is associated with a reduced odds of using contraception at first intercourse (Abma, Driscoll, & Moore, 1998). Sexually experienced female adolescents with older partners were more likely to become pregnant than female adolescents who reported having partners close in age (Darroch, et al., 1999a). On the other hand, adolescent females who were older than their first sexual partner were more likely to become pregnant while in that relationship than females who were about the same age as their first sexual partner (Zovodny, 2001).