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Sexuality of 15/16-Year-Old Girls and Boys With and Without Modest Disabilities

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Abstract

Girls and boys with disabilities, 15–16 years of age, report a significantly higher rate of sexual debut than adolescents with no disabilities. In a society where a young person with a disability often is considered to have an essentially asexual status, there can be several fronts for adolescents to fight. The survey Life and Health—Young People 2005 was completed by 3,084 adolescents attending mainstream schools in Sweden. In this study the sexual debut in girls and boys with and without disabilities is related to mental health, school exposure and substance use. Our findings might be explained by a mechanism of identity construction from the adolescents’ ideas of normality and by a battle for acceptance and confirmation of life. The ideas of normality can be erroneous but still influence the adolescents’ sexual activity. Multivariate analyses also showed that the relationship between sex and substance use is strong among all adolescents.

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Acknowledgments

The research was supported by the Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Örebro County Council, Sweden. The authors also wishes to express their gratitude to the participating students and teachers for their time and cooperation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, ICU—I See You, Örebro University, 70182, Örebro, Sweden

    Elinor Brunnberg

  2. Örebro County Council, Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Örebro, Sweden

    M. Lindén Boström

  3. Department of Health Sciences, Malmö University Hospital, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Mats Berglund

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  1. Elinor Brunnberg
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  2. M. Lindén Boström
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  3. Mats Berglund
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Correspondence to Elinor Brunnberg.

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Brunnberg, E., Boström, M.L. & Berglund, M. Sexuality of 15/16-Year-Old Girls and Boys With and Without Modest Disabilities. Sex Disabil 27, 139–153 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-009-9123-2

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