Ungdomar och sexualitet - Statens folkhälsoinstitut

18 ungdomar och sexualitet – en forskningsöversikt 2005
for this due to the pill being used as a contraceptive and boys not seeing this as they themselves
using contraception.
One new aspect as regards contraception is the availability of over-the-counter
emergency contraceptive pills (also known as “morning-after” pills). Studies show that
awareness of the morning-after pill varies between young women and young men and that
the former are more aware of it than the latter. Furthermore, the research shows that the
majority of women are positive towards the morning-after pill being available over the
counter and that very few of them see access to it as influencing their use of other contraceptives.
Taking risks of different kinds can lead to both negative and positive experiences. The
evidence suggests that we now live in an age of greater sexual risk-taking in general than at
any time over the last few decades. This is reflected, for example, in a laxer attitude among
young people towards, for example, casual sex and an increase in the number of people
with experience of this kind of encounter. There also seems to be a small group in every
generation of young people that is more willing to take and hence be more exposed to risks
than others and there is often covariance between different types of negative, sexually
related experiences. Neither are negative sexual experiences under the influence of alcohol
particularly uncommon.
Preventive action to combat unwanted pregnancies increased dramatically in Sweden
in connection with the introduction of the Swedish Abortion Act of 1975. This has since
been supplemented by other measures such as the expansion of youth clinics and the introduction
of subsidised contraceptives to young people in most Swedish county councils. In
the 30 years that have passed since the act came into force, pregnancy, abortion and birth
rates have all varied somewhat. Seen overall, the pregnancy rate in the 15–19 age group has
gone down, from 55.3 pregnancies per 1,000 women to 30.4 (2003). The total number of
adolescents having abortions has also risen in total and in 2003, about one fifth chose to
have their babies, whilst the rest of those in this age group chose to have an abortion. The
most common causes of young women choosing to have an abortion is that they have felt
themselves to be too young, they want to study first and they assess their financial situation
as too weak and unstable. A large majority of these women, even amongst the youngest,
discuss their decision to have an abortion with their partners.
Sexually transmitted infections (STI) and chlamydia in particular are widespread
among adolescents. Young people in the 15–29 age group were responsible for 87 per cent
of all reported cases in 2004. The two other widespread STIs are HPV (human papilloma
virus) and genital herpes, but the total prevalence of these is difficult to measure for one
reason or another. The prevalence of gonorrhoea and syphilis has also increased slightly in
recent years but the number of cases is very low in relation to chlamydia, HPV and genital
herpes. HIV is also very uncommon in the various groups of young people and the virus is
very rarely spread within Sweden. Several studies point to different approaches to STI and
to the risk of infection among young women and men. Young women seem more aware of
the risks than young men and public perception of female and male roles tends to place
more responsibility on the woman for protection against infection.