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Talking to your teenager about contraception

By Giulia Draycott

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The value of parental advice

So why, you might ask, do I need to have conversations about contraception with my teenager at all? Well, it's your call and as a parent, no doubt you'll trust your own instincts. But you may want to consider the following:

• Over a quarter of young people aged under 16 are sexually active but this is the group least likely to use contraception, including condoms
• Young people whose parents discuss sex and relationships openly and without embarrassment, have sex later and are more likely to use contraception
• Eighty six percent of parents feel strongly that there would be fewer teenage pregnancies if more parents talked to their children about sex and relationship.
• Nearly half of young people say they receive no or little information from their parents.

Best Practice Sexual Health Guidelines - under 16s PDF³

Pregnancy and STD rates

You might be surprised to know that teenage pregnancy rates are actually rising again for the first time in a decade. According to The Office for National Statistics, under-18 pregnancies in England and Wales rose by at least 2.7 percent in 2007, with up to 42 in every 1,000 girls becoming pregnant in the 12 months to September 2007⁴. That means teenage girls under the age of 18 have on average more than a one in 25 chance of becoming pregnant. And that's not all...

According to Avert, an international Aids charity, "Over the past decade there has been a substantial increase in diagnoses of most Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) in the UK, and reports of two of the most common STDs have shown massive rises. Cases of uncomplicated gonorrhea increased by 42% between 1998 and 2007, while genital chlamydia increased by 150%⁵."

Avert goes on to say that "Between April 2005 and March 2006, the NCSP found a chlamydia prevalence of 10.2% among women under 25 years old, and 10.1% among men in the same age group." It's not a trend you want your kid to be part of.

Talking to your teenager

Ok so let's assume that you're now keen to talk to your teenager about contraception. You've asked them what they already know. They've enjoyed the chance to shock you with their casual grasp of (or ignorance of) the subject. So you want to make sure they really understand that the supposedly hilarious sex ed lessons in school are directly relevant to their own lives, the choices they make and the risks they may be taking.

continue...