Gaps found in young people's sex knowledge

[Liberty]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/15/sex.report/

Gaps found in young people's sex knowledge
By Elizabeth Landau, CNN

(CNN) -- Most sexually active unmarried young adults believe pregnancy should be planned, but about half do not use contraception regularly, according to a study published Tuesday.

The survey of 1,800 people age 18 to 29 was conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

"What is surprising is just how wide the gap is between single young adults' intentions and behavior on this very important issue," said Bill Albert, chief program officer at the organization.

Also, 29 percent of women and 42 percent of men said it is at least slightly likely they will have unprotected sex in the next three months -- and it's quite likely or extremely likely for 17 percent of women and 19 percent of men.

The discrepancy between both wanting to plan pregnancy and having unprotected sex may have something to do with a focus in recent years on abstinence-only education, said Laura Lindberg, senior research associate at the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute.

"Abstinence-only curriculums have gone explicitly out of their way to teach misconceptions about contraception," she said. "This generation of 20-somethings have missed many opportunities to get medically accurate and correct information."

But for abstinence education advocates, the problems stem from not enough focus on refraining from sex until marriage.

"I don't think we'll be able to overcome this problem unless we restore the social norm of not having sex and not getting pregnant before marriage," said Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council. "Even when people are informed, they just don't choose to consistently practice contraception."

Many of the people surveyed said they did not know much about contraception to begin with -- 63 percent said they knew little or nothing about birth control pills, and 30 percent said they had scant knowledge about condoms.

The numbers may reflect that while most people have heard of the pill and condoms, they have never been taught how to use the pill or where to get it, or how to put on a condom, said Dr. Yolanda Wimberly, assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at the Morehouse School of Medicine and an adolescent medicine specialist with Grady Health Systems in Atlanta, Georgia.

Myths about pregnancy and sexual activity continue to permeate circles of young people. For instance, 28 percent of men incorrectly believe they will get extra protection from wearing two condoms at once, a practice that actually leads to condom breakage. At the same time, 18 percent of men wrongly believe that having sex standing up reduces the chance that they will get a female partner pregnant.

These are the kinds of myths often heard in Wimberly's office. Wimberly, who sees young people from age 12 to 30 about sexual health issues, commonly hears rumors like these that have spread among friends. Anecdotal evidence that a behavior is safe is sometimes more convincing for young adults than the recommendations of health professionals.

"If other people have been doing it, and nothing bad has happened, then they'll do it," she said. "We have definitely got to do a better job of dispelling myths."

Albert said it was shocking that about four in 10 respondents said it doesn't matter whether people use birth control, believing that people get pregnant when it's their "time."

But this was not surprising for Wimberly. She pointed out that some people are not opposed to having children in their 20s and are at a point in their lives at which they would be relatively comfortable going through with an unplanned pregnancy.

There are also exaggerated doubts and fears about birth control pills, the study said. Twenty-seven percent of women and 34 percent of men in the survey said serious health problems such as cancer are likely to result from using the pill or other hormonal contraceptives.

Experts say hormonal contraceptives are relatively safe, but there is some mixed scientific research on the topic. According to the National Cancer Institute, oral contraceptives have been shown to increase the risk of cervical cancer, although human papillomavirus is the major risk factor for the disease.

Some studies have found an increased risk of breast cancer, but others found no connection. There is also evidence that oral contraceptives decrease the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer, but that they increase the risk of liver cancer in women who are otherwise considered at low risk for the disease.

But the known evidence does not suggest it is "highly likely" that cancer will result from the pill, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy said. The survey cites a recent Mayo Clinic study that suggested an additional 2 to 3 percent increase of developing breast cancer as a result of being on the pill.

Wimberly always goes through all the pros and cons of using the pill with her patients, including the noncontraceptive benefits. Each individual should discuss all the positives and negatives of the pill with a health care provider before deciding to use it, she said.

Nearly half the adults surveyed said they agreed that "drug companies don't care if birth control is safe; they just want people to use it so they can make money." Thirty-two percent said they agreed that "the government is trying to limit blacks and other minority populations by encouraging the use of birth control."

Still, according to a 2002 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading contraceptive method among women ages 15 to 29 is the pill.

While the actual rate of infertility among people 18 to 29 years old is 8 percent, a great deal more think they may fall into that category -- 59 percent of women and 49 percent of men said it is at least slightly likely they are infertile, and 75 percent of people who had concerns about fertility did not worry about it because of information from a doctor.

About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The survey calls for more sex education for adults, given that about one in five participants said they had never had sex education in school. Colleges -- both two-year and four-year -- should educate students about pregnancy and contraception, and such programs should also be available in workplaces, job training sites and the military, the survey said.

Health care providers also have a role to play in ensuring that young people know all their options for family planning, and in providing patients with these methods, the report said.

Wimberly added that other community-based venues such as churches, community centers, hospitals and after-school programs could all disseminate information about contraception and family planning.

Parents can also play a big role in helping educate their children about these issues, Albert said.

Groups such as the Family Research Council continue to advocate for abstinence-only education at the K-12 level, but the organization does not have an official stance on what sex education should happen beyond that, Sprigg said.

"But as far as investing taxpayer dollars and making a strong public policy effort, we think the principle focus should be on encouraging abstinence," he said.

The survey also touches on a distrust of the health care system more generally, Lindberg said. The challenge is to "create more positive attitudes and make health care providers and the health care system feel like a safe and trusting place," she said.

[Simon_Jester]

A few random notes:

(CNN) -- Most sexually active unmarried young adults believe pregnancy should be planned, but about half do not use contraception regularly, according to a study published Tuesday.

This may be a mix of ignorance and that common human response "sure, it's a great idea in theory, but I don't see why it should apply to me if I don't want it to!" Whether they say "pregnancies should be planned" on a survey does not prove that they, personally, intend to plan all pregnancies in their lives. Even if it should.

Albert said it was shocking that about four in 10 respondents said it doesn't matter whether people use birth control, believing that people get pregnant when it's their "time."

I wonder what the correlation coefficient between this belief and some of the other stupidities found in the poll results is?

...But this was not surprising for Wimberly. She pointed out that some people are not opposed to having children in their 20s and are at a point in their lives at which they would be relatively comfortable going through with an unplanned pregnancy.

That much, at least, is true, and not unreasonable. At some point, it makes sense to identify a category of "semi-planned" pregnancies: those which were not specifically expected, but which are not unwelcome and which the parents were basically ready to cope with. A 27 year old married couple that stops using contraception may not be specifically planning to have a baby the next year, but that doesn't mean something has gone wrong if they do.

While the actual rate of infertility among people 18 to 29 years old is 8 percent, a great deal more think they may fall into that category -- 59 percent of women and 49 percent of men said it is at least slightly likely they are infertile, and 75 percent of people who had concerns about fertility did not worry about it because of information from a doctor.

I submit that neither of these is a sign of ignorance. If you haven't actually had children, and the rate of infertility in your age group is 8%, then it really is "at least slightly likely" that you are infertile, for a reasonable definition of "slightly likely."

[Serafina]

Gee, lack of education leads to a lack of knowledge - how could anyone have possibly forseen this?

However, aside from this, i find it somewhat worrying that the pill is such a common contraceptive.
Not because it is not safe or has side-effects, but because that indicates that condoms are NOT used.
Not only do they add extra protection, but they also work against STDs.

[Questor]

Gee, lack of education leads to a lack of knowledge - how could anyone have possibly forseen this?

However, aside from this, i find it somewhat worrying that the pill is such a common contraceptive.
Not because it is not safe or has side-effects, but because that indicates that condoms are NOT used.
Not only do they add extra protection, but they also work against STDs.

A note on this, it may simply be a confusion of terminology.

I know that when I was in high school, when someone said contraceptive, it was generally associated with the pill. This did not mean condoms weren't used, but simply that for various reasons they weren't the first thing that comes to mind when the word contraceptive was used.

I know I heard the line "I don't use a contraceptive, because then my parents might find out, I make him use a condom," from health class. I remember it because I broke out in a fit of laughter.

[Napoleon the Clown]

"I don't think we'll be able to overcome this problem unless we restore the social norm of not having sex and not getting pregnant before marriage," said Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council. "Even when people are informed, they just don't choose to consistently practice contraception."

I wonder if this idiot is familiar with a song that was popular during World War II.
"Don't sit under the apple tree
With anyone else but me"

The song in full.

"Don't sit under the apple tree" was slang for having sex. The more you know!

[Zixinus]

"I don't think we'll be able to overcome this problem unless we restore the social norm of not having sex and not getting pregnant before marriage," said Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council.

Again, a deficiency of history wreaks so much havoc.

[Liberty]

Hell yeah. People have been having premarital and extramarital sex FOREVER.

[PainRack]

"I don't think we'll be able to overcome this problem unless we restore the social norm of not having sex and not getting pregnant before marriage," said Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council. "Even when people are informed, they just don't choose to consistently practice contraception."

I wonder if this idiot is familiar with a song that was popular during World War II.
"Don't sit under the apple tree
With anyone else but me"

The song in full.

"Don't sit under the apple tree" was slang for having sex. The more you know!

Social norm doesn't mean its normal not to have sex before marriage. It means that one didn't find it socially acceptable to have sex before marriage.

Frankly, the sexual revolution has been revolutionary only in the sense that now, women can experiment sexually before marriage.... as opposed to men.

[Darth Wong]

The proportion of young people who have unprotected sex (~15% to 20%) seems to be similar to the proportion of people who won't wear seatbelts. I would hazard a guess that such people are simply such goddamned idiots that they simply cannot be made to listen to reason.

Think about how monstrously deficient someone's brainpower must be in order to decide that it's a good idea to drive around in a car with no seatbelt, or that smashing face-first through your windshield and then into pavement is the best way to survive a car crash. Why would such an imbecile wear a condom when having sex? Maybe he thinks his semen is safer if it's "thrown clear".

[Shroom Man 777]

Maybe they just don't realize the danger of driving on the road, or the dangers of sex ( ) and fail to consider the consequences of either actions if things go wrong? It's natural for people not to consider the bad things that might happen. Over here in the Philippines, people super-rarely wear seatbelts. But our road speeds are nowhere near your highways.

I personally wear seatbelts almost all the time, since I like sleeping on the passenger seat and don't want to get into any rude awakenings.

[Darth Wong]

Maybe they just don't realize the danger of driving on the road, or the dangers of sex ( ) and fail to consider the consequences of either actions if things go wrong? It's natural for people not to consider the bad things that might happen. Over here in the Philippines, people super-rarely wear seatbelts. But our road speeds are nowhere near your highways.

I personally wear seatbelts almost all the time, since I like sleeping on the passenger seat and don't want to get into any rude awakenings.

The Philippines should not be used as a counter-example. Your country is monumentally fucked up. There's a reason why Toronto is full of Filipino immigrants; they left home because it was shitty there. Every Easter there are people who flog themselves and actually get crucified with real nails, for fuck's sake.

[Shroom Man 777]

You are as astute as always, D.W.

(It's funny because it's true!)

[Mayabird]

An article with all sorts of quotes from abstinence-only fuckers but no mention of how their intentional disinformation campaigns (the entirety of abstinence-only sex ed, which if anything is more harmful than saying nothing because of the lies they spread) in the guise of "education" make the situation worse. Typical. Just keep giving them free legitimacy by constantly quoting them.

[Shaun]

"But as far as investing taxpayer dollars and making a strong public policy effort, we think the principle focus should be on encouraging abstinence," he said.

A tried and failed method of sex education.

How do you encourage abstinence outside the scope of abstinence only education anyway? Teach them all about condoms and birth control pills but tack on a warning at the end? Kids are going to have sex whether or not teachers encourage them otherwise!

[Eulogy]

Kids are going to have sex whether or not teachers encourage them otherwise!

And that is why abstinence-only is doomed to fail every single time, barring some big changes in human nature. Anybody who says otherwise is either genuinely pants-on-head retarded or truly malicious.

[Napoleon the Clown]

"I don't think we'll be able to overcome this problem unless we restore the social norm of not having sex and not getting pregnant before marriage," said Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council. "Even when people are informed, they just don't choose to consistently practice contraception."

I wonder if this idiot is familiar with a song that was popular during World War II.
"Don't sit under the apple tree
With anyone else but me"

The song in full.

"Don't sit under the apple tree" was slang for having sex. The more you know!

Social norm doesn't mean its normal not to have sex before marriage. It means that one didn't find it socially acceptable to have sex before marriage.

Frankly, the sexual revolution has been revolutionary only in the sense that now, women can experiment sexually before marriage.... as opposed to men.

My point was that teens have been having premarital sex since before this loon was born. "Societal norm" or not. Besides, the song was pretty blatant about premarital sex, for the day. Hell, musicians are a lot more honest about what their songs are about. "Don't sit under the apple tree" wasn't underground, even. People knew what it means. In short, the societal norm didn't exist, even back during WW2.

[Mayabird]

Kids are going to have sex whether or not teachers encourage them otherwise!

And that is why abstinence-only is doomed to fail every single time, barring some big changes in human nature. Anybody who says otherwise is either genuinely pants-on-head retarded or truly malicious.

Actually, here is the twisted part, which would be hilarious if it wasn't for the consequences:abstinence-only sex ed makes teens more likely to have sex, somehow.*

Also, when they have sex, they are far, far less likely to use any forms of birth control.


*Probably because they demonize it into forbidden fruit. I personally was told in my 'classes' that virgins are like newly blossomed roses, and every time you have sex it's like ripping off a petal, and that's why you should be married before having sex: no one likes roses without petals and the only way someone's going to stick with you when you're ugly and ruined is if they're legally beholden to it.

[Formless]

*Probably because they demonize it into forbidden fruit. I personally was told in my 'classes' that virgins are like newly blossomed roses, and every time you have sex it's like ripping off a petal, and that's why you should be married before having sex: no one likes roses without petals and the only way someone's going to stick with you when you're ugly and ruined is if they're legally beholden to it.

I heard a few variations on this one too, and it seems to me it relies on the poor suckers not realizing that sex is a skill and that the more you do it the better you will be at it and the more you will enjoy it. In other words, the exact opposite is true.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Kids are going to have sex whether or not teachers encourage them otherwise!

And that is why abstinence-only is doomed to fail every single time, barring some big changes in human nature. Anybody who says otherwise is either genuinely pants-on-head retarded or truly malicious.

actually it's not just human nature, dolphins and other primates can engage in sex outside of reproduction and do.

[Junghalli]

I heard a few variations on this one too, and it seems to me it relies on the poor suckers not realizing that sex is a skill and that the more you do it the better you will be at it and the more you will enjoy it. In other words, the exact opposite is true.

It seems to rely on the belief that somehow sex is polluting. I suspect it ultimately goes back to evolution. If you're a male monogamist a major concern when it comes to insuring your reproductive success is making sure that all your mate's children are actually yours. You want to try to keep other dongs away from that pussy because if you don't you might end up raising kids that aren't actually yours. It makes perfect sense that this would manifest as the idea of your lover having sex with another man instinctively inspiring feelings of anger and jealousy. You want a virgin because at some level the idea that your lover may have sex with another man hits the neural circuitry that goes off when you find out they're guilty of adultery. Then of course culture builds around these irrational feelings and you get the fetishization of virginity and the belief that any woman who isn't a virgin is somehow "defiled" and "damaged goods" and you don't want her.

[Simon_Jester]

My point was that teens have been having premarital sex since before this loon was born. "Societal norm" or not. Besides, the song was pretty blatant about premarital sex, for the day. Hell, musicians are a lot more honest about what their songs are about. "Don't sit under the apple tree" wasn't underground, even. People knew what it means. In short, the societal norm didn't exist, even back during WW2.

...sort of true. The catch is that you could still get in a world of trouble if you got caught having premarital sex. It happened, and I'm confident that everyone knew it happened, but everyone wanted to think their daughter wouldn't do it- because of the social norm. Having a child out of wedlock was treated as shameful, for instance.

On top of that, think about the origin of a phrase like "make an honest woman of me." Consider what's implied by the idea that a man must marry a woman he's having sex with to make her "honest," and what that says about her for having sex before he married her.

So in some sense, ideally no one was supposed to be having premarital sex, even if no one was actually following the rules. Hypocritical? Yes. Dumb? Yes. Impossible? Not so sure.

What I think the loons are really missing is that the biggest factor that reduced the amount of premarital sex and births to unmarried parents was very likely not abstinence. I think it was shotgun weddings. We've more or less abolished the custom of young couples getting married at eighteen or twenty, shortly or immediately after getting out from under their parents' eyes... and the amount of premarital sex going on increases to match that.

[Liberty]

*Probably because they demonize it into forbidden fruit. I personally was told in my 'classes' that virgins are like newly blossomed roses, and every time you have sex it's like ripping off a petal, and that's why you should be married before having sex: no one likes roses without petals and the only way someone's going to stick with you when you're ugly and ruined is if they're legally beholden to it.

I heard a few variations on this one too, and it seems to me it relies on the poor suckers not realizing that sex is a skill and that the more you do it the better you will be at it and the more you will enjoy it. In other words, the exact opposite is true.

Growing up, I was told that if I were to start having sex with a man I was dating, he wouldn't want to every marry me because "he already had everything he wanted." So, in other words, I was supposed to hold out on having sex with him in order to make him marry me, but if I had sex with him before we got married, he'd have no reason to marry me.

What I think the loons are really missing is that the biggest factor that reduced the amount of premarital sex and births to unmarried parents was very likely not abstinence. I think it was shotgun weddings. We've more or less abolished the custom of young couples getting married at eighteen or twenty, shortly or immediately after getting out from under their parents' eyes... and the amount of premarital sex going on increases to match that.

I like your point. Interestingly, some (very conservative Christian) people in the United States still encourage people to marry at young ages, specifically to avoid the temptation to have premarital sex. Oh yes.

Can't Wait For Sex? Just Get Married, Some Say: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,538701,00.html
The Case for Early Marriage: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/200 ... 16.22.html

Now, I was raised in a very conservative family and I got married early. However, this was because I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with my husband, I placed a great deal of value on marriage and having a family, and it would not have been seen as socially acceptable to either set of parents, basically all relatives, and almost all of our friends, to simply live together. It was not because of sex. My sister, on the other hand, brought me an article almost exactly like the two referenced above and showed it to me. She had just turned nineteen and had been dating her (first) boyfriend for about six months. She showed me the article and said she totally agreed with it. She just wanted to get married, right then and there. This article, which quoted Christian leaders and such, said that was actually a good idea, and would help prevent sexual temptation. So shouldn't she just get married? She was engaged hardly a month later. Now, because of a series of events, she was not married until she was twenty-one, but still, you see my point. This whole thing does have an impact.

Also - I would imagine this helps play into red states having higher divorce rates.

[Darth Wong]

"I want to lose my virginity" is such a stupid reason to get married. It's funny how these imbeciles rant about our oversexed society and then literally recommend that people get married based on sexual frustration.

[The Yosemite Bear]

and outside of marital sex is one of the reasons cities exist in the first place... (alcohol, bread, prostitution pretty much developed about the same time)

[wolveraptor]

Thirty-two percent said they agreed that "the government is trying to limit blacks and other minority populations by encouraging the use of birth control."

I'm still disturbed every time I'm reminded how shitty race relations are in this country. People are being made to believe that it's a fucking war out there.