Mixing Sex and Alcohol Puts Many Teens at Risk

Feb. 7 -- Taking away the car keys is not the only thing parents can do to protect their kids from the perils of drinking.

Experts say adolescents should be made aware of how using drugs and alcohol can lead to sexual activities that may change their lives forever.

While drinking and having sex may be unofficially authorized milestones in the typical American teen's coming of age, a new study reveals that more and more adolescents are experimenting with both, leaving themselves susceptible to pregnancy, disease and violence.

In a random survey of 1,200 adolescents and young adults ages 13 to 24 throughout the United States, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 81 percent reported that they have had intercourse, and 50 percent agreed that "people their age" mix alcohol and drugs "a lot."

Experts say these findings, to be presented today at a substance abuse and sexual behavior conference at Columbia University in New York, are so disturbing because drugs and alcohol can significantly compromise one's judgment and put teens into high-risk situations.

"We knew that teenagers were doing this, but frankly it is a bit shocking that the numbers were so high," said Dr. Timothy Johnson, ABCNEWS' medical editor.

Unintended and Unprotected Sex

Drinking and doing drugs often leads young people to engage in more sexual activity than they intended to partake in, and more importantly, to unprotected sex, says Joseph Califano, former U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare and president of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia.

Overall, 29 percent of sexually active 15- to 24-year-olds surveyed say that they have "done more" sexually than they had planned while drinking or using drugs, and 74 percent say their peers "often do not use condoms when they are drinking or using drugs."

Considering the high rate of alcohol use among high-schoolers, it is no wonder the Centers for Disease Control reports that almost 1 million unwanted teenage pregnancies occur every year, and one in every three sexually active people in the United States will contract a sexually transmitted disease by the age of 24. This includes everything from genital warts to the life-threatening HIV.