This is the second in The Irish Times/TNS mrbi Youth Poll series, a comprehensive social investigation of the behaviour and opinions of 15-24-year-olds in Ireland today. Ian McShane managing director TNS mrbi explains some of the findings.
Interviewing was conducted in-home between August 20th and September 6th last, with questions relating to the more sensitive topics completed in private by the respondent, placed into a sealed envelope and returned to the TNS mrbi interviewer.
One of the key sections of the interview dealt with the respondents' attitudes to sex and relationships, including their use of contraception as a barrier to pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted diseases, and it is this general area we focus on today.
With a view to setting the findings from this section into a sociological context, information was gathered at the outset of the interview in relation to the respondents' current domestic situations, insofar as this is one dynamic which is likely to influence the manner in which they conduct their own relationships.
The first point to make in this regard is that more than eight in 10 of all 15-24-year-olds live at home with their parents, and are only beginning to move out in any numbers once they reach 23 or 24. We know from recently published Central Statistics Office data that this is very much part of a sociological trend, whereby the number of people in their late 20s and early 30s still living in the family home has burgeoned over the last 10 years or so, not least because of the difficulties they are experiencing gaining a foothold on the property ladder.
Some commentators have posed the question as to what effect this is likely to have on the very nature of adult relationships in the future. Early evidence from today's poll suggests that it may in fact have little or no effect, with younger dependants very much living their own lives when it comes to sexuality and relationships.
Another point to note is that while one in six of this generation has parents who are either separated or divorced, the great majority of them live in the more "traditional" Irish home where both parents are still married.
As with yesterday's findings in relation to alcohol and drug use, the results concerning sexual activity seem to be broadly in line with academic studies conducted in Ireland over the last number of years.
For example, MacHale and Newell conducted a survey of 15-18-year-olds at post-primary school in Galway in 1997 which indicated that 21 per cent had had sexual experience and that the average age at which they had first had sex was 15.5 years.
A sub-analysis of the behaviour of 15-17-year-olds from today's poll indicates that 25 per cent of them have had sex, and that the average age at which they first did so was 15.1 years.
In overall terms, however, 18 seems to mark a significant turning point in the lives of today's youth in terms of sexual awakening, with seven in 10 of all 18 -19-year-olds having had sex at least once.
There is also evidence to suggest that any taboos which may have existed in the past in relation to sex and sexuality are fast disappearing. As mentioned, one of the survey's introductory questions identified that the vast majority of 15-24-year-olds are still living in their family home with their parents.
As such, it can be assumed that the youth of today is subject to some extent to the moral codes of the parents whose home they share. It is interesting therefore to note that a majority of those who have had sex claim their parents are fully aware of the fact, a figure which peaks amongst female respondents. The implication is that the younger adult does not view his or her sexuality as something to be hidden from the older generation.
From a healthcare perspective, two key questions must relate to the degree to which this more sexually active younger generation is as a result more at risk from unwanted pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted diseases. At an overall level, the results appear reasonably encouraging. Thus, while the number of partners those who are sexually active have had stands at seven by the time they reach 23 or 24 years of age, nine in 10 of them claim that they usually use contraceptives, mainly as a barrier to both pregnancy and sexual diseases. Having said that, there are an estimated 40,000 young adults claiming to regularly engage in unprotected sex. Educationalists will presumably take note.
Finally, lest some should interpret these findings as a sign that fundamental family values are under threat, it should be noted that the great majority of these young adults disagree with the statement "I feel that I will be married more than once in my life".
Some of these are likely to have no intention of getting married at all, but many clearly aspire to stability in their relationships as they grow older, just as their parents did.