Newly Released Studies Show that Young People Don't Know Much about Sexual Health, but that's Not Stopping Them

A Kaiser Family Foundation study released in May reports that many young people are uninformed about sexual health issues. Another report released by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy found that one in five young people have had sexual intercourse by the time they turn 15. Unfortunately, young people's lack of information is not translating into a lack of sexual activity.

Included in the Kaiser study:

* more than one-third of 15 to17 year-olds reported having had oral sex, but one in five did not know that sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) could be transmitted through oral sex.
* Almost half of 15 to 17 year-olds do not think that oral sex is "as big of a deal as intercourse" and 40 percent of teens think that oral sex is "safer sex."
* 37 percent of 15 to 17 year-olds have had sexual intercourse and, according to other studies, 66 percent of young people have had sex by the time they graduate high school. Moreover, the Kaiser study found that 24 percent of adolescents and young adults say that drugs or alcohol influenced their decision to have sex and 70 percent say that their peers do not use condoms when drugs or alcohol are involved.
* 20 percent of people ages 13 to 24 said that they believed that birth control pills protect against STDs and AIDS, and ten percent believe that condoms are only necessary if "you have a lot of sexual partners."
* Half of young people said they had been tested for HIV or other STDs, but 30 percent incorrectly assumed that these tests are performed in routine medical care.
* About one in three teens reported having been in a relationship where things were moving too fast sexually.
* 63 percent of 15 to 17 year-olds said that "waiting to have sex is a nice idea but nobody really does it."


http://www.siecus.org/policy/PUpdates/arch 03/arch030064.html