‘Youth Sexuality’ 9th Iteration
Central results of the nationwide representative survey: first sexual intercourse later and later, condoms remain preferred contraceptive
Becoming sexually active – later and cultural differences
Assumptions that young people are becoming sexually active earlier and earlier are not confirmed. Quite on the contrary: girls and boys aged 14–16 are significantly less likely to have had sexual experiences already compared to just ten years previously.
While sexual activities among the 14-year-olds are still the exception, at 4% on average, more than half have had experience with sexual intercourse by age 17.
70% of young women without a migrant background have experienced their ‘first time’ by age 17. Among women of the same age but with non-German roots that figure is 37%. Among the 17-year-old boys the equivalent figures are 64% and 59% respectively.
Reasons for holding back sexually: ‘I don’t have the right partner’ and ‘I’m too young’
When asked about the reasons why they have not yet become sexually active, young people between the ages of 14 and 17 largely cite two reasons: the lack of the right partner (55%) and / or being too young (41%). Compared to 2014 a substantially larger number of girls now consider themselves too young for the ‘first time’ (13 percentage points more than in 2014).
Condoms are the preferred contraceptive for the ‘first time’; the contraceptive pill is in decline
Condoms are by far the most preferred contraceptive for the ‘first time’ among young people. 77% of 14–17-year-olds cite this method. The contraceptive pill is still used for the first sexual intercourse, but compared to 2014 its use is in decline (30% versus 45%). One possible reason for this drop in usage is that girls in the current survey are much more likely than those five years ago to worry about the health impact of the Pill.
Safe contraception: also a question of education
86% of young people between the ages of 14 and 17 use safe contraceptive methods for the ‘first time’. 9% use no contraceptives of any kind and a further 4% use an unsafe method (pulling out). The data of the youth sexuality study also confirm that almost one in five young people with a low level of education do not use any or only unsafe methods of contraception. The contraceptive behaviour improves with increasing sexual experience: during the most recent sexual intercourse only 5% of young people use no contraception of any kind.
Instances of education: parents, school, the internet – origin makes a difference
The parental plays an important role in sexuality education. Parents remain the most important confidants for their children and a central source of advice regarding matters of sexuality and contraception. Just how much parents are a reference person in a young person’s sexuality education depends on origin, however: 70% of girls without a migrant background state that their mother is an important reference person for sexual questions, for girls with a migrant background this figure is 43%. It is a similar story among boys: 45% of boys without a migrant background cite their father and 37% cite their mother as an important reference person for sexuality education. Among boys with a migrant background, this is true for 27% and 17% respectively.
School remains a central venue for sexuality education: teachers are an important reference person for young people of both sexes in sexuality education matters regardless of cultural origin. For boys with a migrant background they are even the – after the best friend – most important reference person. Around 70% of young people say that their knowledge has primarily come from lessons at school.
Around 56% of girls and 62% of boys say they got the majority of their knowledge about their body, contraception and sexuality from the internet.
Information on the study
From the early summer until autumn 2019 6,032 interviews were conducted nationwide on behalf of the BZgA for the 9th representative study. 3,556 young people between the ages of 14 and 17 as well as their parents and 2,476 young adults aged between 18 and 25 were surveyed about their attitude and behaviour towards questions around sexuality and contraception. 1,874 of these respondents have a migrant background. This refers to young people and young adults who do not themselves possess German citizenship or who have at least one parent who was a non-German citizen at birth.
The representative survey follows on from the BZgA’s predecessor studies on youth sexuality from the years 1980–2015. The focal topics of the survey are sexuality education in schools, online and in the home, first sexual experiences and knowledge and behaviour around contraception. The aim of the study is to determine longitudinal data about the attitudes and behaviours of young people and their parents as well as of young adults in Germany regarding questions of sexuality and contraception. In this way measures can be guided and newly designed in a knowledge-based way.