‘People Make Assumptions About Our Communities’: Sexual Health Amongst Teenagers from Black and Minority Ethnic Backgrounds in East London

Abstract

Our paper suggests culture, gender, religion and youth influence BME teenagers in aspects of sexual relationships, and that these social markers may have different contextual meanings for individuals. The multiplicity of factors affecting attitudes/behaviour requires a range of contraceptive, counselling, screening and sex education services available for all teenagers, although delivery patterns may differ in response to differing needs.

Early Sexual Risk Among Black and Minority Ethnicity Teenagers: A Mixed Methods Study

“…High-risk sexual behaviors were highly associated; those who began having sex at the age of Յ13 years were significantly more likely to have ever had unprotected sex (OR: 23 Thirteen percent (302) reported one or more high-risk behaviors, with 4% (n ϭ 97; 7% of young men and 3% of young women) reporting two and 1% (n ϭ 21) reporting three high-risk behaviors. Compared with white young men from the United Kingdom, two or more high-risk behaviors were more likely in white other, black Caribbean, black African, and mixed ethnicity young men, with lower risk among those from all South Asian ethnicities.…”

Who reports absence of sexual attraction in Britain? Evidence from national probability surveys

“…This might, for instance, reflect a perceived norm of universal sexual attraction more common in the white population. Differences in sexual behaviour by ethnicity and gender in the United Kingdom (Fenton et al, 2005;Saxena et al, 2006;Sinha, Curtis, Jayakody, Viner, & Roberts, 2007) also suggest differing sexual norms, perhaps related to 'true' differences in the proportion experiencing sexual attraction. It must also be noted that although Natsal-2 over-sampled the four main ethnic minority groups in the United Kingdom (which was accounted for in the weighting of these data), the numbers reporting absence of sexual attraction within each ethnicity category were very small.…”

“…It must also be noted that although Natsal-2 over-sampled the four main ethnic minority groups in the United Kingdom (which was accounted for in the weighting of these data), the numbers reporting absence of sexual attraction within each ethnicity category were very small. Other differences, for instance socio-economic differences (Sinha et al, 2007), may confound associations with ethnicity. The complexity of this, and the interplay among gender, culture, religion, and the experience of sexual attraction, are beyond the scope of this article, but merit further investigation.…”

A reflection on seven years as editors and welcome to the new editors

“…Wolsko et al (2006), a qualitative study identifying the importance of comprehending indigenous conceptions of wellness in order to effectively work towards promoting optimal health and the need for on-going dialogue between researcher and indigenous communities; . Sinha et al (2007), a subtle investigation of the complex interaction between a range of factors that impact on sexual health behaviours among young people from ethnic minority groups, and the policy implications of this; . Pickett and Wilkinson (2008), a thorough review of data and theory in relation to ethnic density effects on health.…”