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...