Condoms have a great track record, but the same can't always be said for the people who use them.

Numerous studies have been done to test the rate of condom breakage or slippage. Many studies find that only two percent of condoms break or slip because the material itself is faulty. Usually a condom breaks because a person didn't use it correctly. This explains the difference between "perfect use" and "typical use" effectiveness rates for condoms.

 Perfect Use:

The perfect-use effectiveness rate for condoms is 98 percent. This means that if 100 couples use a condom perfectly each time they have sex for an entire year, only two pregnancies would happen. These pregnancies would happen because the condom itself was faulty.

Typical Use:

The typical use effectiveness rate for condoms is 85 percent. This means that if 100 couples use condoms and sometimes they use them incorrectly, or forget to use them during an entire year, then 15 pregnancies would happen. Most of these pregnancies that occur would be due to human error, not because the condom itself was faulty.

Some people have argued that teens shouldn't use or rely on condoms since they don't use them very well. As you might suspect, this argument is misleading. For example, when all people are given the opportunity to learn how to use condoms correctly, they have a much greater chance of actually using them correctly.

When they are given a chance to learn, teens can use condoms correctly!

Do you know how to use a condom correctly?  Real Teens, Real Life has two great animations all about how to use condoms correctly: Marvin the Condom and Condom Use Game. Test your skills!