As boys grow up and become sexually active, they cut back on regular visits to the doctor, sometimes for reasons of cost and lack of health insurance, health-care professionals say.
A new study cites another factor: what boys think it means to be a man.
The study of 15- to 19-year-olds, by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center researchers, suggests young men view visits to the doctor as a sign of weakness.
In addition, young men frequently don’t talk about health issues such as birth control and sexually transmitted disease to their parents, who, the study’s authors report, may not be encouraging annual exams.
The investigation, reported in this month’s Pediatrics, analyzed data on nearly 1,700 young men. More than half of the subjects said they had had sex, and they were no more likely to see a physician than those who abstained. One out of five had taken part in two or more risky behaviors such as drinking, smoking, cocaine use and forcing someone to have sex.
One hundred four young men reported having had a sexually transmitted infection.
For the most macho boys, talking to a father was particularly helpful. But what a boy learns – or doesn’t learn – at the doctor’s office can be a problem, says Bill Albert, deputy director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
“Doctors are not talking to boys about birth control, at least as much as they talk to girls, or about STDs,” Albert says.
Federal statistics underscore his point: In 2002, among males 15-19 who had visited a medical-care provider within the previous year, fewer than one in five said they received counseling on birth control, STDs or HIV.
