Sexually active teenagers are more likely to play it safe compared to adults, a recent study found.

Researchers at Indiana University’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion revealed a higher percentage of teenagers than adults reported they had used a condom the last time they had intercourse, said Dennis Fortenberry, co-author of the study and professor of pediatrics at IU.

The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior questioned 5,865 people between the ages of 14 to 94 through a computerized survey. The survey examined the various sexual acts individuals partake in and looked at the number of Americans participating in same-sex encounters. The survey included a wide range of questions about sexual history and different sexual behaviors, including masturbation, oral sex and masturbation with another partner. 

Nearly 80 percent of teenage males and nearly 70 percent of teenage females reported they had used a condom the last time they had intercourse, according to the full report featured in the Oct. 1 issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Less than 25 percent of adult males and females reported they had done the same thing.

‘Students, in many ways, pay more attention to sexual health than other generations have, and I think that’s a good thing,’ Fortenberry said.

Condom use was higher with casual sexual partners than with relationship partners in men and women of all ages. But teens used condoms with the same frequency for both casual and serious relationships.

The reason for the difference could be because of teenagers’ relationship habits, Fortenberry said

‘One explanation for the study’s findings is that a lot of younger people do not have fully formed, long-term relationships,’ Fortenberry said. ‘They have familiarized themselves with condoms because they tend to have more partners over a shorter period of time than older people.’

The media has also worked to raise awareness about safe sexual habits, Fortenberry said. He said the media is a great outlet for informing people because commercials and print advertisements are constantly on display, so messages about safe sex habits are on people’s minds. 

The survey represents one of the most comprehensive studies of sexual and sexual-health behaviors ever conducted, Fortenberry said.

A 1992 National Health and Social Life study led by researchers at the University of Chicago examined similar sexual-health behaviors among a broad population, but was less expansive, surveying about 2,500 adults between the ages of 18 and 44, Fortenberry said.

Meagan Rometty, a junior advertising major, said she was not sure if students at Syracuse University were entirely representative of the study’s findings, but was not surprised with the results of the study. The media frequently reminds students about safe sex practices and the negative side effects that result from not using protection, she said.

Fortenberry said the study was not intended to offend people, but was meant to inform sexually active individuals about condom use and safe sex habits to help prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

‘I hope that even if people change their sexual lives as they get older, then they maintain the idea that there are a lot of good things that happen during sexual relationships,’ Fortenberry said. ‘I’m focusing on how to keep them healthy and safe and how to maximize the good habits and minimize the bad ones.’

vdnapoli@syr.edu

Published on October 11, 2010 at 12:00 pm