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Youth engaging in risky behaviour, report finds
Di Caelers. 22 July 2003. The Star. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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Calls for youngsters to delay their first sexual experience - one of the pillars of the state's strategy to control the spread of HIV/AIDS - are clearly not working.
New research has found that in Cape Town nearly a quarter of 14-year-old schoolboys have had sex. Five years later, the statistics show, the majority will be sexually active.
For 14-year-old girls, the figures start lower, with 5,5 percent reportedly having had sex. But by 19, that figure rockets as more than half of the girls report that they are sexually active.
And if that is not enough cause for concern in South Africa, where millions are infected with HIV, the youngsters are also not routinely using condoms.
Of nearly 3 000 pupils canvassed who had had sex, only slightly more than half had used contraception the last time they had intercourse. Condoms were, however, the contraceptive of choice among those who did.
The pupils canvassed were in grades 8 and 11, from 39 high schools across Cape Town, according to the study report published in the latest edition of the South African Medical Journal.
Conducted by Professor Alan Flisher, head of the University of Cape Town's department of psychiatry and mental health, and Professor Priscilla Reddy, Dr Carl Lombard and Martie Muller of the Medical Research Council, it updates statistics on sexual behaviour of Cape Town high school pupils, which were last studied in 1990.
Calling for intervention programmes to start in primary school, the researchers reported that by 14, nearly 24 percent of boys and 5.5 percent of girls had had sex. By 19, the proportions went up to 72 percent for boys and 58 percent for girls.
Although most reported only one sexual partner during the previous year, and said they had known the person for longer than seven days, only 65 percent said they had used contraception the last time they had sex.
Most (68 percent) used condoms, but a large percentage relied on injectable steroids which offer protection against pregnancy - but not against HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
The researchers explained that for boys and girls, there was a sharp increase in the number of pupils having sex between grades 8 and 11. "For each grade, a significantly higher proportion of males had experienced sexual intercourse."
A total of 23,4 percent reportedly had sex at age 14. The figure jumps to 34,5 percent by 15, 45,9 percent by 16, 53,7 percent at 17, 58,3 percent at 18, and nearly 70 percent by 20.
Among girls, the statistics show a significant increase between 14 and 15. At 14, 5,5 percent of girls said they had had sex. Just a year later, that figure was up to 14 percent. By 18, just under half the girls had had sex.
Grade 11 boys, the researchers found, had had significantly more sexual partners in the previous year than their female counterparts.
These findings "underscore the urgent need to increase intervention efforts that aim to postpone first intercourse". And, the researchers said, these efforts should start in primary school. |
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