Oh, those Scandinavians.... (from a Danish newspaper):

"A survey of the sexual habits of 15-16 year-olds in Viborg shows that up to 20 percent of young people shun the use of condoms, despite education of the dangers of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

The survey, in which the sexual habits of school pupils are analysed over 21 years, shows that the use of condoms has fallen.

"Knowledge of and use of condoms is widespread among adolescents already at sexual debut," the report says but adds: "A considerable amount of adolescents (10-20 percent) still do not protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies at debut or later coitus".

Researchers say that while the use of condoms was widespread following the major AIDS campaigns of the 1980s, the focus on the role of condoms in safe sex has dropped and may explain the reduction.

P-pills
The survey, which is published today in the Danish medical journal Ugeskrift for Læger shows, however, that the knowledge and use of contraceptive pills is widespread among young girls already at the time of their sexual debut.

Nonetheless there is a marked change from the use of condoms in connection with first-time intercourse to the use of contraceptive pills in later sexual activity.

"A shift from of the use of condoms to more frequent use of the pill occurs from debut to later coitus," the report says.

Venereal diseases
The report found that knowledge of venereal disease such as HIV/AIDS, chlamydia and herpes simplex was high, with over 80 percent of respondents aware of the diseases.

"A total of 58 percent of boys and 76 percent of girls identified chlamydia as the most common venereal disease," the report said adding that 26 percent of the boys and 27 percent of the girls answered AIDS/HIV while 13 percent of boys and six percent of girls wrote 'don't know'.

Debut unchanged
The view that young people have their first sexual experiences increasingly earlier in life appears to be incorrect. The survey shows that the age of sexual debut has remained unchanged for many years.

The number of young people who had intercourse for the first time before the age of 15 was at 18 percent, unchanged from previous surveys.

Young people are, however, more sexually active than previously according to the researchers. "

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There was a time when a debut was a social event...