Sexual Experiences of Adolescents With and Without Disabilities: Results from a Cross-Sectional Study

Little is known to date about sexual activities of adolescents with disabilities. In this study, 140 students with physical, visual, or hearing impairments from special education schools between the ages of 14 and 17 were surveyed and compared with 306 adolescents without disabilities from a national sample. The data collection was performed by completing the questionnaire independently using a non-standardized questionnaire of the Federal Centre for Health Education. The question was if teenagers with disabilities are less sexually active than teens without disabilities. Twenty-eight percent of teenagers with disabilities reported experiences with intercourse. Among those, there were more often males and teens with hearing impairments. Thirty-nine percent of adolescents without disabilities had experiences with intercourse, and among them were more female adolescents. Despite being less sexually active teenagers with disabilities experienced earlier first sexual intercourse than age-mates without disabilities. Thirty-six percent of all adolescents were in a stable relationship and among them teenagers with disabilities had experiences with intercourse less frequently. Predictors of sexual intercourse were increasing age (OR 15; CI 4.5–40.9), no disability (OR 7; CI 2.7–18.2), and a stable relationship (OR 12; 6.9–21.0). Readiness to talk about sexuality played a minor part. As a result, teenagers with disabilities were as well sexually active as teens without disabilities, what shows the importance of sex education both for students without and with disabilities wedded to good concepts of special-needs schools to impart essential knowledge for self-determinated decision making and the special aspects of disability and sexuality.