Condom use less likely among older teens according to study

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By MARC HUDON
Times & Transcript Staff

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OTTAWA - The older Canadian youth become, the less likely they are to practise safer sex, suggests a Statistics Canada report about teenage condom use.

The study suggests teenagers ages 15 to 17 used condoms 81 per cent of the time while only 70 per cent of 18- and 19-year-olds reported using protection.

The proportion of sexually active teen girls who reported using a condom increased from 65 per cent in 2003 to 70 per cent in 2005.

The proportion remained unchanged at about 80 per cent among teenage boys.

Meanwhile, condom use among New Brunswick teenagers increased with 79 per cent of youth reporting condom use the last time they had sex.

The national average was 75 per cent.

The report also suggests fewer Canadian teenagers are engaging in intercourse with the decline greater among young women than young men.

In 2005, 43 per cent of teens aged 15 to 19 reported having sex at least once, down from 47 per cent in 1997, said Statistics Canada.

Young women sparked the decline, among whom the proportion declined from 51 per cent to 43 per cent.

Meanwhile, the proportion of young men engaging in intercourse remained unchanged at 43 per cent.

The rate among New Brunswick teens declined nine per cent from 2003 to 43 per cent.

Some teens are also waiting longer to have sex, the study suggests, with eight per cent of adolescents engaging in sexual intercourse before age 15, down from 12 per cent.

"About one-third of teens aged 15 to 19 who had had intercourse in the year before the survey reported having done so with more than one partner, roughly the same percentage as in 1996-97," wrote the report's author.

"A higher percentage of boys than girls reported multiple partners, a finding consistent with other studies."

The study also found that having multiple partners was more common among older teens.