Letter: Contraceptive practice and unplanned pregnancy in students.

Abstract

The conclusion from a study of Australian university students that the proportion of university women experiencing sexual intercourse and the proportion of sexually active university women using contraceptives were greater than that found in Britain and America is challenged from the British experience. In Cambridge, England, the proportion of sexually experience undergraduate and secretarial female students was 57%, compared with 62% in the Australian study. When analyzed by age, the Australian study indicated that 15% of the women had engaged in sexual congress by the age of 16, and 95% had done so by the age of 19. These figures approximated those for non-university students in Britain. However, 89% of the British undergraduates and 72% of non-university students had used a reliable method of contraception on every occasion of sexual intercourse, compared with 49% in the Australian study. Also, 74% of the British undergraduates used oral contraceptives (OC), while only 30% used OCs in the Australian study. Nonetheless, only 60% of the experienced British women and 35% of the men felt that contraceptive advice was adequately available. Apprehension that OCs are regarded as the only reliable method of contraception available is expressed in light of circumstances in which OCs may not be suitable or available.