State school teens ‘twice as likely’ to have sex under 16
STATE school pupils are twice as likely to have had sex by the age of 15 as those at private schools.
Overall, girls were more sexually active – with one in three admitting to flouting the age of consent, compared to one in four boys.
The findings, made in a St Andrews University study, follow calls by MSPs for a review of sexual health and relationships education.
Holyrood’s health and sport committee claimed this summer that teaching of the subject is inconsistent.
Scotland has one of the highest rates of early sexual activity among adolescent girls compared with other countries in Europe and North America.
Levels of sexually- t r ansmitted diseases north of the Border have risen rapidly over the last decade.
Yesterday, Scottish Tory health spokesman Jackson Carlaw called for an inquiry into the quality of sex education.
He said: ‘Whenever there is a clear gulf in results such as this, it’s crucial we find out what the core reasons are. It is a statistic that will certainly be of concern to parents across the country.
‘One avenue to explore could be to find out, where schools are performing well on this matter, what it is they are doing successfully, and how it can be mirrored in schools not doing so well.’
Scottish Labour’s welfare spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘It is important that our children are aware of the facts and have all possible support offered to them as they make the transition into adulthood. Sexual education should be open and honest about the risks involved and relationship advice should be available as standard.’
Yesterday, the study’s lead author, Dr Kate Levin, senior research fellow at the university’s School of Medicine, said: ‘There was a particularly striking difference in prevalence of sexual behaviour between independent and state school attendance.
‘But children attending independent schools are not only more wealthy, but have parents who have potentially different parenting styles.’
The survey covered 1,274 boys and 1,418 girls, all in S4, looking at family affluence, whether they went to state or private school, as well as the area’s level of deprivation.
For all state school pupils, the odds of having underage sex are 96 per cent greater than that of private pupils.
Those youngsters living in the most deprived areas were 70 per cent more likely to be having sex than those in the most affluent areas.
And girls in towns with populations of 3,000-10,000 less than 30-minute drive from major urban centres were 76 per cent more likely to have sex than those in Scotland’s four biggest cities.
Dr Levin said: ‘It could be due to peer pressure being greater among girls. Peer pressure is known to be particularly great for young people living in more isolated communities.’
Britain has high rates of sexual activity of youngsters aged between 13 and 15, with British girls ranked third most active behind those from Denmark and Iceland in girls.
Sexually transmitted infections in Scotland have trebled in ten years, with chlamydia and HIV rising fastest.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘It is for local authorities and schools to determine how to deliver lessons on relationships, sexual health and parenthood education to reflect the maturity and development stage of t he pupils, l ocal needs and circumstances.
‘Schools are also required to consult parents and carers when they are developing or reviewing their programmes of sex education.’
The full study is to be published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.