Education, education, education

It's depressing to report, in this Sexual Health Week, that not only do most people not realise that condoms come in different sizes, but some teenagers who actually try to use condoms mess it up because they don't really know how.

Research by Southampton University found that, of 1,400 teenagers between 16 and 18 surveyed across England, around half had had sex.

Of the 373 who had used a condom on the most recent occasion, 6% had put it on too late and 6% had removed it too early.

The researchers also asked just over 100 teenagers to keep a six-month diary of their sexual activity.

Of the 74 who said they had used a condom, 31% had put it on after penetration had already occurred, and 10% had taken a condom off too early on at least one occasion.

Of the 714 diary entries given to the researchers, a condom was not used during sex on 322 occasions.

The main reasons for not using a condom were intimacy, not liking how it felt, other contraception was being used and the couple just got "carried away".

Those using condoms did so to avoid pregnancy, to avoid "making a mess" and to make sex last longer, but very few cited the prevention of STDs.

Toni Belfield, of the Family Planning Association, said: "This research continues to reinforce the message that young people need good information and support to use condoms correctly and consistently.

"Good communication with a trusted adult is an essential part of this support.

"We would urge parents and carers to be open about sex and relationships with their children, so they can be a source of guidance for them."

The research also showed that boys who were able to talk openly to their mothers during their early teenage years were more likely to use condoms correctly.

That bears out earlier work that defined three groups of young people in terms of their sexual behaviour:

• young people who grow up in 'liberal' surroundings, with open attitudes about sex, tend to start experimenting later and, when they do, they are the group most likely to use safe sex/contraception;

• young people who grow up in surroundings with negative attitudes toward sex (this includes religious families), tend to start experimenting earlier and, when they do, are less likely to use safe sex/contraception;

• young people who grow up in environments where nobody cares or is interested will start experimenting earlier still and will be least likely to use safe sex/contraception.

So-called moral campaigners often babble about how sex education should be the responsibility of parents, in the home.

Lovely idea. In a perfect world. Which this isn't.

Whatever Pink Floyd may think, clearly more education is essential. And, if the state doesn't want to pick up the results of ill-informed or ignorant, naïve and vulnerable young people experimenting sexually without understanding what they're doing and the risks they're taking, in terms of pregnancy and STDs, then such education cannot be left to parents.