Sex education taught by older pupils to younger ones is popular with students, according to a study in Britain, the country with the highest rate of teen pregnancies in western Europe.

But learning about sex from other students rather than from teachers only has a modest effect on changing behavior, researchers said.

A study that compared the impact of sex education given by trained students and by teachers showed fewer girls in the peer-led group reported having sex before they turned 16.

There was, however, no difference in contraceptive use during first sex between the two groups.

"It is encouraging that we are showing some effect on behavior," said Dr Judith Stephenson of University College London.

"There were modest significant findings in the right direction," she added.

Girls and boys in the peer-led group had a better knowledge about how to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections and fewer girls reported a pregnancy.

"The numbers at this stage are rather small to draw firm conclusions but we are still following up all the students in the study," she added.

More than 8,000 pupils in 27 schools were involved in the study. The 13 and 14 year-olds were either taught by trained 16 and 17 year-old students or by teachers to see if there was a difference in sexual behavior and teenage pregnancies between the two groups.

Stephenson and her colleagues, who reported the interim results of the study in The Lancet medical journal, said that by 16 years old, 35 percent of girls in the peer-led group reported having sex, compared to 41 percent in the other group.

"Based on our findings, getting older teenagers to teach the younger ones about sexual health and relationships could be a step in the right direction," she said.

But in a commentary in the journal, Roger Short of the University of Melbourne in Australia described the interim results as disappointing.

"We can only hope that the results will improve at the proposed follow-up survey at the age of 19-20, long after the students have left school," he added.

Reference Source 89
July 23, 2004

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