Safe sex beliefs— i.e., believing that with the use of a condom there is no risk of pregnancy or HIV infection— may encourage teens to start having sex earlier than young people who do not share that belief. A University of Navarra study revealed this in BMJ Open, a high-impact academic journal published by the British Medical Association. The article is based on responses from 8,994 teenagers between 13 and 18 years of age in the Philippines, El Salvador and Peru.

The authors include Alfonso Osorio, professor within the Faculty of Education and Psychology, Jokin de Irala, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health and principal investigator of an ICS project; and two professors from the Faculty of Medicine, Cristina Lopez del Burgo, Silvia Carlos and Miguel Ruiz-Canela. All authors are part of the Health Research Institute of Navarra (IdiSNA) and the first four are also researchers within the Education of Human Affectivity and Sexuality project of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS).

According to the study, the association between beliefs about safe sex and sexual initiation occurs even when taking into account other possible factors, such as age, sex, socio-economic status and religion.

As the authors elaborated, "Although many experts warned that this effect was possible, this is the first study that analyzes it empirically, with real data, and that also finds similar results in three different countries, using the same methodology independently of other factors."

Reevaluating messages promoting condoms

However, they note that given the cross-sectional design of the study, these results should be confirmed with a longitudinal study (tracking young people over several years) to confirm this association in order to design more appropriate strategies to promote healthy sexual habits.

Regarding the data obtained, the authors note that "parents, educators, public health officials and the media may be interested in reviewing how they communicate messages promoting condoms to youth," stressing the need to remind young please that "condoms never completely eliminate the risk of pregnancy or HIV transmission."

Read the article:

‘Safe-sex belief and sexual risk behaviours among adolescents from three developing countries: a cross-sectional study' (BMJ Open)