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A new study by the University of
British Columbia (BC) School of Nursing found that language barriers might be
putting the sexual health of some new Canadians at risk. According to Yuko
Homma, a post-doctoral fellow and the study’s lead author, East Asian high
school students in this province were less likely to be sexually active, but
those who were active engaged in riskier sexual behavior. Study authors
suggested that language and cultural barriers might be preventing parents from
speaking frankly with their children about sex.
“In BC, there is a growing
population of East Asians, particularly Chinese and Koreans. East Asian student
health impacts general Canadian health,” said Homma. She would like to see more
culturally appropriate sex education taught in both English and the students’
first language. The province’s Ministry of Education mandates sex education as
part of its health and career education curriculum.
While research indicated that sexual
activity had become more common among North American adolescents, only 10
percent of East Asian adolescents in BC reported having sexual intercourse.
However, seven out of 10 sexually active East Asian youth reported high-risk
behavior, according to the study. The report used 2008 data from the provincial
Adolescent Health Survey and responses from nearly 30,000 students in grades
7–10 from China, Korea, and Japan. The majority of these students are
first-generation immigrants. More than half of respondents spoke their native
language at home, which researchers noted might indicate closer ties to more
traditionally conservative cultures. “I hate to make generalizations,” said
Kristen Gilbert, a senior educator at Options for Sexual Health agency, “but
it’s common for me to have Asian students in the class who are surprised by the
information, even basic reproductive biology.”
According to Saleema Noon, an
independent Vancouver-based sex educator, “I think it comes down to religion
and culture ... Most of us didn’t learn much from our own parents, and we live in
a culture that’s so much more sexually open than Asia.” She continued that, in
an “ideal world,” schools would translate educational material into several
languages and send it home to parents as well. Sex remained a taboo topic for
many families, but Noon noted that attitudes were slowly changing.
The full study, “Sexual Health and
Risk Behavior Among East Asian Adolescents in British Columbia,” was published
online in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality (2013; doi:10.3138/cjhs.927).
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dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus.
To learn more about The Friends of
AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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