MONTREAL - Girls with behavioural problems from low-income neighbourhoods are twice as likely as their female peers to have sexual intercourse in early adolescence, a new study suggests.
Young teenage girls with a history of problems and who come from underprivileged areas may have sex before they're ready because they're influenced by deviant peers and older male friends, the researchers say.
The study by researchers from l'Universite de Montreal, the University of New Brunswick and Tufts University was published in the latest issue of the journal Child Development.
"It's really the double risk -- having a problematic history and coming from a low-income area -- it's the combination of the two that really increases the risk," said lead author Veronique Dupere, now a post-doctoral fellow at Tufts University who completed the research at l'Universite de Montreal.
"The results suggest that neighbourhoods shape peer groups, which in turn influence when girls become sexually active."
The study looked at a total of 2,596 Canadian adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 from across Canada's socio-economic spectrum.
It suggests that teenage girls who are involved in at-risk behaviour like fighting, bullying, vandalism and running away from home and who come from underprivileged areas are more likely to have deviant peers and older male friends who influence their sexual behaviour.
"It seems it's really the friends who play an important role in the answer," Dupere said in an interview.
"At the end of the line, this seems to be what's making the difference."
Teenage boys, when first initiating sexual intercourse, did not seem to be influenced by these factors.
A Statistics Canada study released last August suggested fewer Canadian teens were reporting having sexual intercourse, and the decline appeared to be greater among young women than young men.
The proportion of teens who reported having had intercourse before the age of 15 declined from 12 per cent in 1996-1997 to eight per cent in 2005.
"It's only a small minority," Dupere said. "For girls in general who have no behavioural problems, for them the neighbourhood doesn't make a difference."
A sex educator with Head and Hands, a Montreal community group that offers sex education and counselling programs for youth, said the peer groups can really influence a teen's sexual choices.
"Youth turn to peers first to get information about sex," said the educator, who asked to be identified only as Jocelyn.
"But peer pressure exists. The best thing you can do is try to instil confidence in young people and good self-esteem and that's the strongest antidote to negative peer pressure."
Sex education also needs to bridge elements of emotional preparation and the emotional side of sex, like developing healthy relationships and "knowing your own limits," she said.
She added that some of the negative consequences of sex, like sexually transmitted infections and HIV, sexual assault and unplanned pregnancy, affect everyone.
"Turns out they all need the education, and similar questions arise regardless of where the youth live," she said.
Alex McKay, a research co-ordinator with the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada, said early sexual activity is often one of several at-risk behaviours these girls are engaged in.
"What we do see in teens who are having sex at early ages is that sexual activity is one of a cluster of behaviours of which you will also find things like substance abuse and low school attendance," he said.
"You can't address one in isolation."
McKay said a broad-based approach that focuses on empowerment tends to be most successful in terms of reducing unwanted teen pregnancy and increasing safe sex practices.
"Youth who have a sense of optimism towards their future in terms of education and employment are much more likely to be receptive to educational messages about how to improve their sexual health."
