TORONTO (CP) - For parents worried about what their teenagers are getting up to, a new report on the sexual health and behaviour of Canadian teens definitely falls into the good-new, bad-news category.
Teenage boys are apparently waiting longer to have their first experience with sexual intercourse. And teens of both genders are less likely to report having had multiple sexual partners than teens of the recent past.
But teenagers who are having sex are having it more frequently than those who went before them. And many of them are doing it with a frightening lack of knowledge about HIV, AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, the report found.
"About 66 per cent of Grade 7 students and 50 per cent of Grade 9 students didn't know there was no cure for HIV/AIDS," said William Boyce, one of the co-authors of the report, which was funded by Health Canada.
Furthermore, a worrisome percentage of Grade 11 students - 49 per cent of boys, 36 per cent of girls - thought there was a vaccine one could take to protect against HIV/AIDS. Half of Grade 11 students were unaware a person could have a sexually transmitted disease yet show no visible signs of illness.
The survey, conducted in 2002, showed a marked decline in knowledge about HIV, AIDS and other sexual diseases when compared to a similar study conducted in 1989, said Dr. Paul Cappon, director general of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, which commissioned the report.
"I think the most alarming (finding) is the decline in knowledge. Because, after all, although this had to do with HIV and AIDS, we know about the alarming climate of STDs generally."
The report is based on the findings of a massive survey of teens - 11,082 Grades 7, 9 and 11 students from across the country. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Alberta and Acadia, Laval and Queen's universities, and was administered by the council of ministers of education.
In a questionnaire of roughly 90 questions, students were asked to outline what they knew about sex, where they'd learned it and how much personal experience they had.
There was an important exception: Grade 7 students were not asked about their sexual experience.
"We had anticipated doing that and Health Canada wanted us to and CMEC wanted us to," said Boyce, director of the social program evaluation group at Queen's.
"But we went to the school boards and they said: 'No. If you want to ask that question of Grade 7s, we just won't participate in the study.' So we basically had to take out the question on the Grade 7 survey about whether they had had sexual intercourse."
Despite that, about three per cent of Grade 7 respondents reported that they had had sex, in a write-in section of the questionnaire. Boyce figures that if three per cent volunteered that information, the real figure is definitely higher.
Findings were compared to a study conducted in 1989 called Canada Youth and AIDS Study. But the 2002 survey, called the Canadian Youth, Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Study, asked a broader range of questions and comparisons could not always be drawn.
The new study found about 20 per cent of boys in Grade 9 and about 40 per cent of boys in Grade 11 reported that they have had sexual intercourse at least once. That's a decline of between eight to nine per cent from the earlier study.
"It does not appear to be based on information or on an assessment of risk," Cappon said. "It appears to be based on issues of relationships and love and so-called "being ready" rather than fear about STDs and HIV."
There was no change in girls' behaviour between the two studies.
Teenagers who were having sex used the same rationales to explain their decisions to become sexually active.
"The most common reasons by those who were having sexual intercourse were reasons such as they were in love with the person or they were curious or experimenting," Boyce said.
He noted that while some parents might take no comfort from the idea of their teen having sex for any reason, some might find it reassuring to know the impetus was not peer pressure or the like.
"If adolescents are engaging in sexual intercourse, than it's probably a better reason than some of the other more casual types of reasons."
On the issue of teen pregnancy, eight per cent of Grade 11 girls and six per cent of girls in Grade 9 reported they had been pregnant.
"That's an alarming percentage from my perspective," said Cappon, who added the findings point to a need for better co-ordination between schools and public health authorities in order to improve sexual health programs aimed at teenagers.
He noted another worrying finding: "As teenagers get older, there appears to be a decrease in the propensity to use condoms."
http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=94EB9F4D-C752-484A-9CFB-B22C0C74A2D8
