Making condoms available in high schools doesn't spur teens to become sexually active, new research shows.
The study examined the impact of a 1991 Massachusetts policy letting local boards of education consider putting condoms in high schools as a way to prevent the spread of the Aids virus and other sexually transmitted infections. Opponents of the policy have claimed it would lead to an increase in sexual activity.
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Researchers find educated teens aren't having more sex
However, the new research suggests those fears weren't realised. Sexual activity did not increase among American teens who were already sexually active, nor among youth who'd never had intercourse.
"Condom availability did exactly what we would have hoped it would do. It didn't get kids to have sex but it did get them to use condoms if they were already having sex," says study co-author Carol Goodenow, a student health official with the Massachusetts Department of Education, USA. The researchers report their findings in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
About half of American high school students say they've had sex, and nearly 60 percent report using condoms during their last encounter.
The effect of condom programmes
The study was based on a youth behaviour survey of more than 4 100 students at 59 high schools, about 15 percent of which had condom programmes.
One in five students in the survey went to schools with condom programmes. These campuses tended to have more black and Asian students, as well as students whose first language wasn't English.
Students in schools with condoms were a little less likely to report ever having had sex, or having had sex in the past three months, than those on campuses where the prophylactics weren't available, the researchers say.
Sexually active adolescents in schools with condoms were twice as likely as those from other schools to use the contraceptives while having sex. However, they were less likely to use other forms of birth control. Students in schools with condoms were more likely to receive coaching on how to use the devices.
Spread of STDs, incidence of pregnancies not clear
Douglas Kirby, an expert in youth sex behaviour, says the Massachusetts results agree with those from at least three previous large-scale studies and several other smaller studies. "There are never any increases in sexual behaviour" when schools offer condoms to students, says Kirby, a senior research scientist at ETR Associates, a non-profit public health group in California.
On the other hand, Kirby says, it's not clear whether such programmes succeed in reducing sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy. "There the evidence is quite mixed," he says. Indeed, the Massachusetts study found that teen pregnancy rates were the same in schools regardless of their condom policies. - (HealthScout News)
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