Extent of regretted sexual intercourse among young teenagers in Scotland: a cross sectional survey

The proportion of young people who have sexual intercourse before the age of 16 is increasing.1 Previous studies have found that sexual intercourse before the age of 16 is often regretted.1 2 Reported regret might result, however, from re-evaluation from a more mature perspective as most data have been reported retrospectively by older respondents. We conducted a large scale survey (the first such study in the United Kingdom) of sexual behaviour reported by young people aged under 15.