HPV vaccine: teenage girls don't see it as green light for sexual activity
6 November 2009
Most adolescent girls do not appear to perceive parental consent for HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination as implying permission for sexual activity.
A survey of 162 British adolescents, aged 14 or 15, found only 8 per cent believed that consent for vaccination implied they were old enough to have sex (BJOG, online 20 October). The remaining 92 per cent did not believe consent equated to parental authorisation for sexual activity.
The findings countered concerns of a significant proportion of parents that the vaccine might encourage risky sexual behaviour, the authors said.
“It has been suggested that adolescents will believe that, by allowing them to have the vaccine, their parents are implicitly giving them carte blanche approval for sexual activity, and this might encourage an earlier sexual debut,” they said.
However, the findings did not reflect this, they added.
Last Reviewed: 06 November 2009
