Adolescents and young adults on their parents’ health insurance plan are less likely to receive sexual preventive health care, such as sexual risk assessments and testing for sexually transmitted disease, a study found.
Further, teen girls (aged 15-17 years), were more than twice as likely to be tested for chlamydia if they met with their provider alone than if they did not, researchers found.
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“Confidentiality issues, including concerns that parents might find out, might be barriers to the use of STD [sexually transmitted disease] services among some subpopulations,” Jami S. Leichliter, PhD, and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote. “Public health efforts to reduce these confidentiality concerns might be useful,” such as providers meeting privately for at least part of an appointment with an adolescent (MMWR. 2017 Mar 10;66[9]:237-41).
The researchers examined data collected from the 2013-2015 National Survey of Family Growth regarding sexual and reproductive health care experiences and behaviors of youth with sexual experience, specifically teens aged 15-17 and young adults aged 18-25 who were on their parents’ health plan. Sexual experience refers to having ever had vaginal, anal, or oral sex with any partner.
Overall, 12.7% of these youth avoided seeking care for sexual and reproductive health because they worried their parents could find out. For those aged 15-17 years, the rate was even higher, at 22.6%.
These concerns were also reflected in the overall prevalence of chlamydia screenings: Just 17.1% of young women who worried about confidentiality had been screened for chlamydia, compared with 38.7% of young women who did not report that concern.
The researchers also compared teens aged 15-17 who had and had not received a sexual risk assessment, which includes being asked by a provider about their (or their partners’) sexual orientation, number of sexual partners, condom use, and types of sex. Among teens who met with a provider alone in the past year, 71.1% reported receiving a sexual risk assessment, compared with about 36.6% who did not meet privately with a provider.
Similarly, 34.0% of teen girls (aged 15-17 years) who saw their provider alone were tested for chlamydia, compared with 14.9% who never met with their provider alone. Slightly more teen boys (13.6%) received STD testing if they met with their provider alone than if they didn’t (9.5%), but this difference did not reach statistical significance.
The study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors did not report any disclosures.