CINCINNATI -- Mark Crawford and Alexia Bonds have a lot in common, but there's one thing their relationship doesn't have: sex.
"Nowadays, a lot of people are doing it, aren't really mature enough mentally," Crawford, a college student, said. "But they do it anyway, and that's why there were problems."
The couple isn't alone. According to the latest numbers released by the CDC, just over 41 percent of high school students have had sex. That's down from 47 percent in 2013.
"My friends all feel the same way about being abstinent," Bonds said. "They all have goals and achievements that aren't within those realms."
The CDC report didn't include any information from Ohio, but some doctors in Cincinnati like Dr. Emmanuel Chandler from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center's Teen Health Center are seeing a similar trend.
"I think in our practice we do see that," he said. "There are a lot more youth that are choosing to remain abstinent."
A lot of teens don't want anything to get in the way of their life plans, Chandler said.
The CDC plans to study what led to the decreasing numbers so that it can develop strategies to push the numbers even lower.