Safe sex decline: Teenage condom use hits 30-year low

Sexual health education is failing to meet the needs of young Australians, leaving them at risk of misinformation and poor outcomes, according to a national study by La Trobe University.

The findings of the largest study of teenage sexual health found that condom use was at its lowest recorded level since 1992, with one in 10 sexually active teens now using the withdrawal method as a form of contraception, and only half using a condom – despite more than 80 per cent having access to condoms the last time they had sex.

Professor Jennifer Power led the study and said the rise in syphilis and a consistently high rate of chlamydia among young people was being driven by reduced condom use.

Almost 4400 secondary school students aged 14 to 18 participated in the research. Half of all respondents said they were sexually active, most commonly after turning 15.

Results of the Australian Survey of Secondary Students and Sexual Health showed that sexual education was lacking, Power said, and that more needed to be done to provide teenagers with information.

“The intricacies of sex are really difficult to discuss, but they’re the things young people want to learn about,” Power said.

“It’s in this context that we shouldn’t be surprised many young people turn to porn – they are curious to know what sex looks like.”

While almost all students said they had received relationship and sexuality education at school, only 45 per cent said they found the information to be relevant.

Less than half (44 per cent) of students said they had learned where to get practical support for sexual issues.

“There is a willing audience here and young people are asking for someone to talk to them on these issues and schools are the place to do it,” Power said.

However, the report shows that fewer than one in four students received relationships and sexuality education after year 10.

“I think it should be included in year 11 or 12 somehow,” Power said. “Fifteen is pretty young for your last sexual education lesson.”

Sexual Health Victoria delivers relationships and sexuality education to hundreds of schools as well as in community settings.

Manager for schools and community Anne Atcheson said some schools invited Sexual Health Victoria to speak to students in years 11 and 12, but that it was rare.

She said older students were often interested in practical information, including how to establish medical autonomy and even gain the skills and confidence to enter a medical clinic.

“Providing our people with the tools to be able to access good information or sexual health treatment is really, really important,” Atcheson said.

Findings of the long-term study, released on Thursday, also revealed that Australian teenagers were experiencing high levels of intimate partner violence from a young age.

Almost one in five (18 per cent) of teenagers said they had experienced physical violence at the hands of a partner, while more than a third (37 per cent) said they had felt scared of or frightened by someone they were in a relationship with.

Despite the concerning aspects of the report, Power said there were some reassuring findings.

Of those adolescents who were sexually active, 75 per sent said their most recent sexual experience was enjoyable, and 85 per cent said it was safe.

More than half of the teenagers surveyed (61 per cent) said they had been in a romantic relationship that lasted more than three months.

Power said the rate of condom use, which has been tracking downward since the survey began in the 1990s, wasn’t entirely a negative.

“Condoms aren’t central to HIV prevention efforts in the way they were, and at the same time there are more options for long-acting, reversible contraception,” she said.

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