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Teens in British Columbia are waiting longer to have sex and using condoms more often than previous generations, according to a new look at sexual health trends in the province.

The study compared Adolescent Health Surveys taken in 1992, 1998 and 2003, and found a significant drop in the number of teens - male and female - having sex. During that time period, the percentage of male youth who had ever had sex decreased from 33.9 per cent to 23 per cent, and among females it dropped from 28.6 per cent to 24.3 per cent. The percentage who used a condom during their most recent sexual experience also increased for males (64.4 per cent to 74.9 per cent) and females (52.9 per cent to 64.2 per cent).

"The overwhelming majority of teens are quite responsible," said the study's author, Elizabeth Saewyc of the University of British Columbia School of Nursing. "Compared to the previous generation, they're delaying sex and when they do decide to become sexually active they're more likely to be responsible and use some sort of protection."

The findings, published in The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality yesterday, looked at trends in sexual health among teens in grades 7 through 12 in B.C. public schools, although Dr. Saewyc said the patterns seem to mirror national trends.

In all, more than 72,000 young people have participated in the study since 1992, filling out an anonymous 140-item questionnaire.

It also showed that the teens who are having sex are waiting longer. Among those who have had sex, the proportion who had done so before the age of 14 declined by almost half between 1992 and 2003.

The study credited some of the decline in sexual activity to a drop in sexual abuse over the same period. Both male and female respondents reported a significantly lower prevalence of abuse in 2003 compared with a decade ago, although girls were still four to six times more likely than boys to report sexual abuse or forced sexual intercourse.

Dr. Saewyc said that adolescents who have experienced sexual abuse or forced intercourse are up to four times more likely to have had consensual sex, and twice as likely to have begun having consensual sex before the age of 14, compared with teens the same age who had not been abused.

Despite the changes in sexual behaviour, Dr. Saewyc said her research underscores the importance of continued sexual violence education, as well as the need for continued comprehensive sex education in schools.

"I think there's still room for improvement," she said. "Where we could actually improve further is encouraging young people to understand what are healthy relationships and change their norms about what they'll tolerate."

Not every aspect of teen sexual activity changed dramatically, however.

The percentage of teens who reported having hadthree or more sexual partners remained steady at about one in three, and just less than half of the males and about 40 per cent of the females reported more than one partner in the past year.

The percentage of students who used drugs or alcohol before having sex increased between 1992 and 1998 but declined significantly between 1998 and 2003, to about one in three males and one in four females.

Few younger teens reported intercourse - 7.2 per cent of girls and 8.9 per cent of boys 12 to 14, compared with 49.4 per cent of girls and 45.1 per cent of boys 17 or older.

"There's this perception that younger youth are going to be less responsible, that they're not mature enough to make some of these sexual health decisions," Dr. Saewyc said. "But one of the things we found is that the youngest teens are just as likely to use condoms as the oldest teens."

Strong connections to adults in their family and at school appeared to have a positive effect on teens' sex practices, and girls and boys who volunteered in their community were also less likely to have had sex.

Dr. Saewyc said her team is currently compiling the results of the 2008 survey, which will be released next January.

"I would expect that we'll see continuing declines or flat-lining," Dr. Saewyc said. "The vast majority of Canadian youth are doing quite well when it comes to sexual health."