Abstract
BackgroundThere is widespread concern about the sexual ‘vulnerability’ of young people with intellectual disabilities, but little evidence relating to sexual activity and sexual health.MethodThis paper describes a secondary analysis of the nationally representative longitudinal Next Steps study (formerly the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England), investigating sexual activity and sexual health amongst young people with mild/moderate intellectual disabilities. This analysis investigated family socio-economic position, young person socio-economic position, household composition, area deprivation, peer victimisation, friendships, sexual activity, unsafe sex, STIs, pregnancy outcomes and parenting.ResultsMost young people with mild/moderate intellectual disabilities have had sexual intercourse by age 19/20, although young women were less likely to have sex prior to 16 than their peers and both men and women with intellectual disabilities were more likely to have unsafe sex 50% or more of the time than their peers. Women with intellectual disabilities were likely to have been pregnant and more likely to be a mother.ConclusionMost young people with mild/moderate intellectual disabilities have sex and are more likely to have unsafe sex than their peers. Education and health services need to operate on the assumption that most young people with mild/moderate intellectual disabilities will have sex.
Highlights
There is widespread concern about the sexual ‘vulnerability’ of young people with intellectual disabilities, but little evidence relating to sexual activity and sexual health
The research questions were: Are there differences in sexual activity and sexual health between participants with and without intellectual disability? What is the association between intellectual disability and exposure to socio-demographic variables predictive of sexual activity/health outcomes? Which socio-demographic variables are associated with key sexual activity/health outcomes?
Are there differences in sexual activity and sexual health between participants with and without intellectual disability? Table 2 shows that overall, people with intellectual disabilities were less likely to have had sexual intercourse by age 19/20 than their peers
Summary
There is widespread concern about the sexual ‘vulnerability’ of young people with intellectual disabilities, but little evidence relating to sexual activity and sexual health. There is an increasing awareness and recognition of the rights of people with intellectual disabilities to live ordinary lives and make their own decisions, sexuality remains an area where these freedoms are often limited compared to other disabled people or the general population [4]. This may in part be due to concerns from families and carers about vulnerability to exploitation, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy [5], but may reflect societal stigma and residual infantilising attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities [6, 7]
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