Trusting the other person doesn't have an STD? “Testing behavior hasn't changed”
Research by Rutgers and Soa Aids Netherlands shows that young people are having more sex without a condom because they trust each other. Student housing doctor Fleur Clarijs questions this. At the same time, she notices that many young women are reluctant to use other contraception like the pill because of the side effects of hormones.
“There is a lot of unsafe sex going on,” notes Fleur Clarijs. She works as a general practitioner at Huisartsenspraktijk UvA and receives many students from the UvA and HvA for consultations. In those conversations, she hears that condoms are increasingly being omitted when having sex. Figures from a recent study by Rutgers and Soa Aids Netherlands, conducted among 10,000 young people between the ages of 13 and 25, confirm that impression.
Some 40 percent of young men without a steady relationship do not use a condom, the findings show. This was only a quarter 12 years ago. Surprisingly, however, the number of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among young people is not increasing, the researchers note.
Gonorrhea is on the rise
Remarkable, agrees Clarijs. In her practice, she sees an increase in the number of students with STD complaints. Especially gonorrhea is on the rise, she notes. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) also warned about this last fall. “The number of STD consultations at sexual health centers was higher in the first half of 2023 than a year earlier,” the National Institute wrote in a press release at the time. “It is notable here that the number of people with gonorrhea continues to rise.”
This does not correspond with the findings from the study by Rutgers and Soa Aids Netherlands. An important difference, however, is that the studies use different research populations, Clarijs adds. Whereas Rutgers and STI AIDS Netherlands had 10,000 young people complete a questionnaire, the RIVM bases its findings on data from consultations with the Municipal Health Service (GGD).
More “sex buddies”
As a reason for the stable number of STDs, Rutgers and STI AIDS Netherlands cite changing sexual habits among young people. More specifically, more “sex buddies” or friends with benefits and fewer one-night stands. In the first case, the researchers believe there is “more trust” among the participants. After all, “we trust each other” is a frequently mentioned reason for not using a condom, they note.
Clarijs wonders exactly what that trust is based on. “You would think that increased trust would go hand in hand with more STD testing. But the survey does not show that.” In short, “It's kind of a question of how well-founded the confidence can be then. If there is less testing but also less condom use, then it seems to me, on the contrary, that STDs are more likely to spread faster,” Clarijs said.
Trouble with the pill
The use of other contraceptives is also waning, Rutgers and Soa Aids Netherlands researchers observe. Pill use among girls experienced with sex, for example, declined by 30 percent, from 76 to 46 percent, according to the study. “I have that conversation very often with young women in the practice,” Clarijs responds directly.
Clearly, "Girls would rather have a contraceptive without hormones. Or, if necessary, with one hormone, as with a hormone IUD in the hope that it will cause fewer side effects, especially psychologically, such as mood swings. “It's really a quest for many women to find contraception that suits them and doesn't bother them,” Clarijs says. Besides, it's not free. “That also factors into the choice.”
Finally, she notes in passing that young people are a lot more open about the different forms their relationships can take. A heterosexual monogamous relationship is certainly not the norm. “And it varies in how contraceptives are handled.”
