Abstract: This chapter focuses on actual sexual behavior: teenagers' experience of “first sex”, their patterns of heterosexual behavior after losing their virginity, and some adolescents' regrets about sexual activity. It also documents adolescents' thoughts about contraception and differential use of contraception. Several key stories emerge in this chapter — about race, evangelicalism, and what sociologists call “plausibility structures”.

Keywords: adolescents, sexual behavior, virginity, first sex, heterosexual behavior, contraception, race, evangelicalism,