Teenage girls are increasingly at risk for sexually transmitted diseases, as those diseases spread into the heterosexual community. A recent study of 308 adolescent girls who had received prescriptions for oral contraceptives at family planning clinics found that only 16 percent used condoms consistently over a six-month period. Thirty percent were considered to be high risk for sexually transmitted diseases because they had a number of partners during the six-month period. Those girls whose partners used condoms were the girls who consistently insisted on it.

What was perhaps most significant about the study was that the girls did not use condoms consistently because they perceived themselves as being at risk of disease and believed condoms were effective barriers to disease. They used condoms to protect themselves against pregnancy. Yet the study was conducted at a time the family planning clinic staff was already informing clients about AIDS and recommending the use of condoms and distributing free condoms.