A study carried out on sexual health among 5oo Irish people has led to some concerning findings.
The Durex survey - which questioned men and women aged between 18 and 24 - found that 68% never had an STI check. It also revealed that men are even less likely to get checked compared to women - 77% of males have never had an STI check, compared to 59% of females.
The results also showed that 54% have never asked a partner if they'd recently been checked for STIs.
The survey, carried out in November, revealed a distinct lack of understanding Irish people have of STIs - for instance, 43% of those surveyed thought that genital herpes could be cured with prescription medication.
When it came to talking to partners about STIs, 38% said they would tell all recent partners if they were at risk of getting an STI while 37% said they would only inform their current partner.
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The majority of young people interviewed said that contracting an STI wasn't their biggest worry when having unprotected sex.
Below are some of the results of the findings.
- 68% have never had an STI check
- 54% have never asked a new sexual partner if they had recently had an STI check
- 53% admit that pregnancy is the biggest worry when having unprotected sex
- 43% mistakenly believe genital herpes can be cured with prescribed medication.
- 12% have had an STI scare
- Of those who reported having an STI scare, 10% say they were initially more intent on using a condom when having sex, but eventually fell back into their old habits.
- 36% would be too embarrassed to discuss the topic of STIs
- 38% would have the courage to inform all their recent sexual ex-partners of an STI risk
- 14% don’t consider having unprotected sex something they worry about
