High school students' attitudes towards and use of contraceptives

Abstract

A questionnaire survey was conducted in an urban coeducational secondary school in the North Island region. Of the 162 adolescents sampled in this study, 39 percent reported coital experience. Of these coitally experienced students, contraception was always used by only 42%. The pill and the condom were reported as the most used contraceptives. Females were found to be significantly better contraceptive users than males. Although many students report preferring their parents as a source of contraceptive information, the majority of both males and females relied upon school sex education classes as their main source of their contraceptive education. Students ability to discuss contraceptive matters with parents was found to have no effect upon coital activity. These results indicate that society must come to terms with the fact that many adolescent New Zealanders are sexually active and run a high risk of having unplanned, unwanted pregnancies.

PIP: 162 6th and 7th form high school students (52 males and 110 females) from an urban area in New Zealand's North Island region completed an anonymous questionnaire on sexual behavior and contraceptive use. 39% of these students (44% of males and 37% of females) had experienced sexual intercourse. In 22%, 1st coitus occurred before 16 years of age. Of the sexually active students, 38% had had 1 partner, 22% reported 2 partners, and 40% had had 3 or more partners. 20% of the sexually active students had never used contraception, 37% reported occasional use, and 41% claimed to always use a method of fertility control. 31% of contraceptors had relied on the pill, 25% were condom users, and 38% reported using a combination of both of these methods. A significantly greater proportion of females (85%) than males (54%) reported at least occasional use of contraception. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the most significant predictor of contraceptive use at 1st intercourse was age: students who used contraception at 1st coitus were a mean age of 15.5 years at that time compared to a mean age of 14.9 years among nonusers. Contraception was viewed to be a joint responsibility by 77% of students in cases of casual sexual relationships and by 93% of students in cases of steady relationships. The major sources of contraceptive information identified by respondents were: school sex education classes (55%), mothers (27%), same-sex friends (27%), and printed materials (26%). Preferred sources of such information were sex education classes (54%), fathers (37%), and mothers (33%) among males and mothers (73%) and sex education classes (32%) among females. When asked to provide suggestions of ways to reduce New Zealand's high adolescent pregnancy rate, 22% of students proposed more and better sex education, 22% called for increased availability of contraception, and 12% suggested that sex education should be taught at an earlier age.