- Nearly half of the teens surveyed said they had concerns about future parenthood.
- More than half of the students rated the sexual education they had received as adequate
Teenagers are putting off having future families because of concerns about pregnancy and childbirth, new research suggests.
Two studies, carried out by experts at University College London, have discovered that a third of students do not want to have children.
The reasons they gave included negative associations with pregnancy and childbirth, and fear of parenthood.
Meanwhile, nearly half of those who said they wanted to have children in the future were worried about their ability to have healthy children.
The studies used survey results from 931 students in England aged 16 to 18, collected between May 2021 and July 2022.
45 percent of respondents said they had concerns about future parenthood.
An article, published in the journal Human Fertility, found that the majority of students still wanted to have children in the future, with almost half wanting to have two children.
However, 45 percent said they had concerns about future parenthood and also expressed fears about the life their children might lead.
When asked what their concerns were, teens responded that fear, doubt, health and well-being, financial burdens, obstacles to personal aspirations, and non-inclusive LGBTQ+ education played a role in their anxieties.
Meanwhile, students who did not want to have children in the future cited reasons that included negative associations with pregnancy and childbirth, fear of parenthood, raising a child in a world with an uncertain future, considering alternative routes to parenthood, and consider children to be a nuisance.
Some students’ desire to have children was influenced by climate change, in line with previous research indicating that more people are not having children due to fear of climate change.
The second article was published in the Health Education Journal.
It found that there are still significant gaps in youth education and that teenagers are not being taught about key reproductive issues such as endometriosis, infertility and the impact of lifestyle on fertility.
More than half of the students rated the sex education they had received as adequate or subpar and 49 percent said they did not know when a woman was most fertile.
Lead author Professor Joyce Harper said: “Sadly, several students expressed a lack of interest in future parenthood due to their fears about pregnancy and childbirth.
‘Deficiencies in fertility education in schools also meant that students felt ill-informed and negative towards their own fertility and ability to have children.
“When it comes to fertility education, most teens told us they want to have children in the future, but in school we focused on teaching them how not to get pregnant, not how to have a healthy pregnancy.”
Until recently, sex education in the UK focused on puberty, menstruation, sexually transmitted infections including HIV and AIDS, contraception and abortion.
Guidance in England on sex education remained unchanged for almost 20 years until, in September 2020, a new Relationships Education curriculum became mandatory for all primary schools.
Additionally, a mandatory relationships and sexuality education curriculum was introduced for secondary schools that included the need to teach reproductive health.
When asked how their education could be improved, students suggested making the curriculum more inclusive and relevant, as well as providing honest, transparent and non-judgmental teaching and encouraging sex positivity.
One participant responded: ‘All we’ve done in school is go over and over about safe sex and talking about periods, which, while important, barely scratches the surface of the things people need to know.
“If miscarriage and infertility were taught better, it could reduce the guilt and shame that people struggling with them would feel.”