NATIONAL

HEALTH BEHAVIOUR IN SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN:
WHO COLLABORATIVE CROSS-NATIONAL STUDY (HBSC)
2014 SURVEY IN SCOTLAND NATIONAL REPORT
AGE AT FIRST INTERCOURSE
Amongst those 15-year olds that report having had sexual intercourse, 24% report having sex at the age of 13 or younger,
32% at the age of 14 and 44% at 15 or older.
Boys are more likely than girls to report having had sexual intercourse at the age of 13 or younger (34% versus 16%,
respectively) (Figure 13.2). Boys are less likely than girls to report that they first had intercourse at 14 years (26% versus
38%, respectively). There is no significant gender difference in the proportion reporting first having sex at 15 years or older.
CONTRACEPTION
Of those 15-year olds that report having had sexual intercourse, 58% used a condom (with or without the contraceptive pill)
on the last occasion (Table 13.1). Around one third of girls (32%) and a quarter of boys (24%) report the use of birth control
pills (with or without a condom). Sixteen percent (16%) used both a condom and birth control pills at last intercourse (17%
of girls and 15% of boys). Almost one in three (29%) report using neither a condom nor birth control pills at last intercourse
(27% of girls and 32% of boys). A minority reported using other methods such as withdrawl or a contraceptive implant.
Fifteen-year olds in 2014 are less likely to use a condom than in 2010 when 74% of boys and 70% of girls reported using
one on the last occasion that they had intercourse (compared to 58% of boys and girls in 2014). Also, there was an increase
in the proportion of those using neither the contraceptive pill nor a condom when they last had sex, from 19% in 2010 to
29% in 2014.*
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