As part of World Contraception Day 2009, The Youth Task Force launched a local online survey amongst 200 teens exploring youth’s attitudes toward sex and contraception.
The survey revealed an alarming lack of knowledge about contraception methods. Half (49%) of the sexually active youths had been engaging in unprotected sex. One quarter of them knew of someone who had an unplanned pregnancy. More than half of the respondents also did not discuss about contraception with their current partner before sex, over a third believed that the withdrawal method was an effective birth control solution and one third were engaging in such an unreliable method of contraception.
According to the study, more than half of the respondents were either unfamilar with they types of contraceotive available, or were confused and unaware of the appropriate options. About a quarter also believed that having sex during a woman’s period was an effective contraception.
These worrying findings support recent reseach showing that adolescents are more like to have unpredictable sexual activity than older individuals and are generally less knowledgeable about how to use contraceptive methods effiectively.
Mums and dads, if you haven’t talked to your teens about sex yet, please do. It’s better that they learn about sex from you, then their friends or through the web.
