United Kingdom: Education "Prevents Underage Sex"

Teenagers who leave school early are less likely to practice safe sex and more likely to become pregnant, a major British study suggests. The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles 2000 found a strong correlation between family background, underage sex and teenage pregnancy. The study also found that those who received sex education at school were less likely to have sex early, practice unsafe sex or become pregnant.

Details of the survey, published in the Lancet (12.01.01; Vol. 358; No. 9296), reveal that one in four women and nearly a third of men have sex before age 16 -- the legal age of consent. The survey of 11,161 UK residents ages 16 to 44 reports that schools are the main source of sex education for most young people ages 16 to 24. The study, which was last carried out in 1990, also shows an increase in the number of people using condoms during their first sexual experience, suggesting the safe-sex campaigns of recent years have been effective.

According to the survey, many people who have intercourse in their early teens regret the experience. Two in five men and four in five women who are now in their late teens and early twenties and first had sex at ages 13 or 14 wished they had waited longer. Overall, women are twice as likely as men to regret their first experience and three times as likely to report being the less willing partner. Kate Wellings, director of the Center for Sexual Health Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and an author of the study, said reports that most young people used contraception were encouraging: "These results show widespread and increasing use of contraception among young people, despite fears that they might have become more complacent as AIDS publicity is less in evidence." But Anne Weyman, chief executive of the Family Planning Association, urged action. "We cannot afford to sit on our laurels. There are some worrying trends that must be addressed as a matter of urgency."

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