Maori start sex sooner, suggests study of youngsters

By VANESSA BIDOIS

Three-quarters of Maori fourth formers say they are sexually active, compared with just over a quarter of European students of the same age.

The figure is revealed in a study by Wellington medical researcher Dr Rosy Fenwicke, which shows Maori teenagers become more sexually active at a younger age than non-Maori.

Dr Fenwicke found that 74.9 per cent of Maori fourth formers reported having sex, against 26.7 per cent of Europeans.

The rate for seventh-form students was 84 per cent for Maori and 58 per cent for Europeans.

Nearly 1000 Hawkes Bay teenagers, including 654 fourth formers and 327 seventh formers, were surveyed about their sexual experiences in 1998.

Dr Fenwicke, who presented her findings at an adolescent health conference in Christchurch yesterday, said the rates for early sexual intercourse were not unusual by international standards.

More than 90 young people, or 9.3 per cent, said they first had sex by the age of 12.

Dr Fenwicke said it was important not to presume that this was a Maori problem and more research was needed.

"There is a socioeconomic influence based on the decile rating of the schools that young people go to.

"We need to look at the community in which everybody lives - Maori and Pakeha - and we need to look at the reasons young people in New Zealand, not just Maori, are doing this."

The director of the Eru Pomare Maori Health Research Centre at the Wellington School of Medicine, Dr Papaarangi Reid, said it was a copout to view the complex issue as evidence of promiscuity.

It was unfair to victimise Maori who were locked into a high-risk section of society with poor access to health services.

Significant health risks were associated with early sexual intercourse, and teenage pregnancies and abortions, and communities needed to talk about "denormalising" it, she said.

The executive director of the Family Planning Association, Gill Greer, said individual decisions about sex and parenthood were never simple to understand but three factors stood out.

The first was low expectations, where teenage pregnancies were more common among young people who were disadvantaged in childhood and had poor expectations of education or employment.

The second was ignorance, where young people lacked accurate knowledge about contraception.

The third was mixed messages, where teenagers were bombarded with sexually explicit messages but many parents and public institutions were embarrassed or silent about sex.

"There's no silver bullet," Dr Greer said. "It requires commitment from a range of agencies ... Employment, education and health strategies are crucial in remedying the problem."