The British Youth Council (BYC) has published results from a survey of over one thousand young people on their experiences of sex, alcohol, and sources of advice. The survey has been presented to the Royal College of Physicians Working Party on Sex and Alcohol.
Key findings from the survey include that two out of three young people believe that there is a strong link between drinking and having unprotected, or unsafe sex and of those who have had sexual intercourse, nearly half later regretted it, and nearly half of these had been drinking beforehand. Nearly one in three said that the first time they had sex they had been drinking, and of these, one in five would not have done it if they were sober.
Speaking about the findings Alex Delaney (25), youth spokesperson of the British Youth Council said, “Having conducted our own survey to highlight the issues, we are now calling for more to be done to involve us in how to support, signpost and advise other young people. At a time when many thousands of “freshers” are settling into a new lifestyle of living away from home for the first time, we want to raise their awareness about the health risks of mixing drink and sex. Education and health services could help us to help each other make informed choices”.
On sources of advice on alcohol 60 percent of young people surveyed did not know or are unsure of the Government’s daily guidelines for safe drinking for adults and 42 percent were either unsure or did not know where to go for advice or information about alcohol. On sex and sexual health 79 percent of young people responding to the survey would know where to go for help if they had questions or wanted advice about sex and their sexual health and 80 percent believed that advice on how to avoid heavy drinking leading to unprotected/unsafe sex should be provided by sexual health clinics.
The British Youth Council, in response to the survey, are calling for young people to be involved more in designing and developing advice and guidance services on the risks of mixing alcohol and sex. The British Youth Council are also calling for renewed Government promotion of guidelines for safe drinking that is relevant for young people of all ages including information on how to avoid drinking that could lead to unprotected or unsafe sex that they might regret.
Fri, 09/10/2009 - 14:28
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A new package to develop local staff to support and train young people to conduct objective assessments of local services and support recommendations for service improvements.
