The latest report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has found that fewer teens are opting for sex during their teenage years than they were just a decade ago, with the majority saying they abstained because it was against their morals or religion.

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that the latest study of teenage sexual activity shows 43 percent of girls and 42 percent of boys have had sexual intercourse by age 19. That number is significantly lower than the last time the survey was conducted, in 2002, when 51 percent of girls and 60 percent of boys said they had engaged in intercourse.

The present data, which was collected between 2006 and 2010, also found that more teens reported using some kind of birth control the first time they had sex. Seventy-eight percent of girls and 85 percent boys said they took precautions, which is only slightly higher than the last survey which found 75 percent of girls and 82 percent of boys using some method of birth control.

The report also found the birth rate for teens age 15 to 19 during the period was 39 per 1,000, the lowest ever recorded in the United States.

In spite of the highly sexualized culture in which U.S. teens are growing up these days, why are a majority of them opting to remain chaste?

“Among teenagers who had never had sex, 41% of females and 31% of males chose this as their main reason for not having had sex,” the report states.

“This finding will likely shock Hollywood producers, comprehensive sex ed advocates, and others who think teenagers are mindless bundles of hormones that cannot be expected to resist their sexual urges,” writes Joe Carter of First Things.

“The fact that so many teens are able to remain chaste in our sex-saturated culture is nothing short of miraculous. Pray that this trend continues.”

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