Young people and sex.

Young people and sex

Coping with sex is a growing problem for teenagers. Today's teens are confronted with the dilemma over the gap between the age at which they are physiologically ready to have sex and the age at which it is culturally acceptable for them to do so.

World Health Organization (WHO) studies have determined that teens the world over are reaching puberty earlier. In industrialized countries girls can expect their first period before their thirteenth birthday--a year earlier than their mothers and two years earlier than their grandmothers. The trend is similar in developing countries, since earlier sexual maturity appears to be related to improved social and economic conditions.

At the same time, women in most parts of the world are marrying later and staying longer in school. Though brides of 14 or 15 are still common in some developing countries, in general marriage is being delayed until the business of education and job-finding is over. The result: young people may have to put their sexuality "on ice" for at least three years, particularly in societies where a good education is highly valued.

Surveys also suggest a global shift towards earlier sexual activity, with the age of first intercourse dropping in both industrialized and developing countries. In the United States the percentage of 15-year-olds claiming to be sexually active rose between 1971 and 1976 from 27 to 35 per cent. Nine European countries have reported to WHO that the age of first intercourse was falling. Sexual activity has also been reported to be starting earlier in places as far apart as the Soviet Union, Chile and the Philippines.

Preganancy: Pregnancy and childbirth in young mothers may present other dangers. A pregnant girl between the ages of 15 and 19 is twice as likely to die in childbirth in the Dominican Republic or Japan, for example, than a pregnant woman in her twenties. A baby born to a mother under 20 in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand is one-and-a-half times more likely to die in infancy than one born to a mother aged 20 to 29. Complications in pregnancy and delivery and low birth weights are major factors.

In traditional societies where women marry young, there is family support for the young parents. But in today's transitional societies, such support is often lacking and those most in need of help are least likely to seek or find it, WHO states.

Many abortions could be prevented if contraceptive services were more widely available. WHO estimates that less than half of today's young people in the developing world have access to any family planning services.

Sexually-transmitted diseses: Diseases such as gonorrhoea and syphilis are a particular problem for young people, especially in urban areas where social change is rapid, WHO has reported. In developed countries, more than two thirds of all reported cases of gonorrhoea occur among persons under 25 years. In developing countries, infection rates are at least as high as those observed in developed countries, the organization has found.

Yet many cases remain untreated because services are not available or because the victims do not know they are ill. In developing countries, the "vast majority of cases will go untreated and many are likely to develop complications", WHO concludes.

WHO estimates that 12 to 20 per cent of females with untreated gonorrhoea will eventually develop salpingitis, which can lead to serious complications including ectopic pregnancy, tubo-ovarian abscesses and infertility.

Sex education: In some societies, parents tell their sons and daughters about sex. But in other cultures, the subject of sex is taboo and parents have great difficulty communicating with their children about it. In many more traditional countries sex education is prohibited entirely. According to WHO, ignorance of basic facts about sexuality, conception and contraception is the norm among young people.

Critics of sex education argue that informing young people about sex will awaken an interest in sexual activity which would otherwise remain latent. But WHO concludes that there is no evidence that sexual education leads to promiscuity. On the contrary, it states that sound information about sexuality seems to encourage postponement of sexual intercourse.

WHO finds that the adverse consequences of teenage sexuality--unwanted pregnancy, bith complications, abortion and sexually-transmitted diseases--stem from ignorance rather than permissiveness, from lack of prenatal, contraceptive and other services rather than from their availability.