A third of 17 year olds have had sex, according to new research from the ESRI and the HSE.
The survey shows that 40% of 17 years olds haven’t spoken to their parents about sex and relationships and 31% of young women regretted their first sexual encounter.
Nearly a quarter of 17 year old boys and 20% of girls get their information about sex from the internet, TV, films or books.
60 percent of males also say they find it difficult to talk about sex with the father.
Co-author of the report, Emer Smyth, says those findings could have wider implications for sexual health and awareness:
She said “That means that those young people are then more reliant on their friends for information, by 17, around half name their friends as their main source of information on sex, which is fine in one way, but in another way it poses risks, because we find that those that are more reliant on information from their friends are less likely to use contraception when they first have sex”.
