NEARLY ONE IN three young men and one in five young women who are sexually active aren’t using contraception, a study has found.

Most young adults use contraception when they first have sex but a significant number discontinue its use, according to research published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

Additionally, while knowledge of the best method for preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is high among young people, knowledge of women’s fertility is much lower.

The research published today draws on data from the 1998 cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study which was collected in 2018 when the young people were 20 years of age. 

Among the findings was that peer networks play a significant role in determining the age at which young people first have sex.

Young men and women who rely on friends as a source of information about sex, who have larger and more age-diverse friendship networks, and who perceive that most of their friends are having sex, are all more likely to have sex earlier, the ESRI concluded.

Relying on a teacher as a source of information was associated with a later age of first having sex.

Knowledge of the best method for STI prevention is high among 20-year-olds, with over 80% of young men and women correctly identifying condoms – but knowledge of fertility (specifically the period during the female menstrual cycle when pregnancy is most likely to occur) is much lower. Only 21% of men and 37% of women answered correctly.

Around one-third of the participants indicated that they use condoms when having sex but a “significant minority” of 40% of men and 32% of women do not always use either condoms or other forms of contraception.

Around 90% initially use contraception but a “significant proportion” of those who are sexually active discontinue its use and were not using it at the time of the study (nearly 30% of men and just over 20% of women).

Just over one-third of young people first had sex by the age of 17, while a further 50% first had sex before the age of 20.

The remaining 15% had not had sex by the age of 20.

More young women expressed regret over the timing of the first time they had sex than young men; a quarter of young women felt that it had happened ‘too soon’, compared to only 10% of of young men, the ESRI said.

Report author Professor Anne Nolan said that the findings in relation to condom use “highlight the need for renewed public health messaging about the benefits of condoms in preventing both pregnancy and STI”.