Youth waiting longer to have sex: Study

Youth in Richmond’s public health region are waiting longer than ever before having sexual intercourse.

A Sexual Health of Youth in BC study, carried out by the Vancouver-based McCreary Institute, surveyed almost 30,000 students across the province from Grade 7 to 12 in 2013.

Among the findings was that less youth in Richmond’s Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) area — among kids who had ever had intercourse — are having sex before age 15, compared to the last study in 2008.

In those five years, the number engaging in intercourse had dropped from 38 per cent to 27 — the lowest among B.C.’s five health regions, with Northern Health the highest at 44.

Richmond’s health region also has the lowest amount of youth sexting — sending explicit photos and messages via cellphones — at just six per cent, compared to 13 in Northern Health and eight per cent across the river in Fraser Health.

Annie Smith, executive director of the McCreary Centre Society — a non-profit organization committed to improving the health of B.C. youth — wasn’t surprised by the report.

“It’s what we’ve been hearing from youth for a while now,” said Smith. “For me, young people are saying, ‘I’m waiting,’ when it comes to being sexually active.

“However, it’s also very clear that many youth were not aware that you can easily pick up STIs from oral sex.

“And we’re definitely hearing from kids that they’re still not getting the information they need to make informed decisions, and they’re talking about it in the playground much earlier.”

Other highlights of the study was that youth who were more connected to their family and school were less likely to have engaged in sexual activity, whether it be oral or intercourse.

Having a supportive adult in their family and feeling good about themselves and their abilities were also associated with a lower likelihood of engaging in sexual activity at a young age.

And having fewer friends and school absenteeism were associated with youth having sex earlier in their lives and more risky sexual behaviour, as was moving house frequently.

Chris Salgado, VCH’s manager of community and family health in Richmond, suggested the health authority’s partnerships forged with other agencies may be a reason for the drop in youth having sex at an earlier age.

“It could be possible that youth are making better decisions due to the kinds of relationships we have struck over the years?” said Salgado.

“It’s certainly very encouraging that they are waiting a little longer to engage in those kinds of activities.”

Richmond’s public health department runs four Youth Health Clinic’s every week at their offices at 8100 Granville Avenue, with the help of public health nurses Debbie Brow and Aileen Ghandi.

Brow also hailed the aforementioned partnerships between the health authority and other agencies.

“We all know each other very well and that can help when it comes to directing youth to the right people,” said Brow.

“One of our partners is the school district and we work with them to provide sex education in the schools.”

The youth, said the nurses, are coming in with questions on reproduction and sexual health.

“Our clinics are full most of the time,” said Ghandi, who gauged more than 2,000 youth per year come through their door.

“As well as the questions, they get tested for STIs, ask about anxiety and depression or birth control options and pregnancy testing.

“We do have some very responsible youth (in Richmond) and that, in itself, is very encouraging.”

Brow told the News that it’s still mostly females who are coming into the clinics and she would like to encourage more males to drop by with questions or issues.

“Some youth have a good understanding, (when they go into the clinic), many have information from Google; which is fine, but we try to steer them to reliable websites, because there is so much information out there,” said Ghandi of the sexual knowledge the youth generally have.

According to the McCreary study, youth bemoaned the lack of accurate sexual health information given to them from their teachers and parents and felt sex education — health, rather than the mechanics of sex — should start in schools at an earlier age, perhaps elementary.

To that end, Salgado’s team has kicked off a Twitter account (twitter.com/VCHRmdYouth) to engage better with its target audience.

“We only started this two weeks ago and are trying to build up the account to engage more with youth and give them as much accurate information as possible and direct them to services they might need,” added Salgado.

“Our nurses have great engagement skills and they’re really working hard at connecting more with youth.”

A copy of the McCreary report can be obtained at www.mcs.bc.ca.