KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) -A survey on sexual violence in Jamaica has found that as much as 49 per cent of girls aged 15-17 have experienced sexual coercion or violence.

The study, published in last month’s issue of the International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, also shows that a significant number of these girls were either persuaded or forced to participate in their first sexual experience.

Data for the study, entitled The Influence of Early Sexual Debut and Sexual Violence on Adolescent Pregnancy: A Matched Case-Control Study in Jamaica, was primarily obtained from interviews with teenagers, aged 15 to 17, 250 of whom were pregnant and 500 others who were sexually experienced but never pregnant.

The results showed that 49 per cent of them had reported experiencing sexual coercion or violence while one-third stated that they had been persuaded or forced to participate in their first sexual experience.

The authors of the study, including Maxine Wedderburn, executive director of Hope Enterprises in Jamaica, said that while young women who had experienced sexual violence were not more likely than those who had not to become pregnant, the numbers reflect the widespread prevalence of gender-based violence in Jamaica.

The researchers also found that 94 per cent of the pregnant teens interviewed reported that their pregnancies were unintended.

These findings demonstrate a strong need for increased education and services for young people in Jamaica to help reduce the country’s high rates of unplanned teen pregnancy and gender-based violence, the researchers added.

They warned that the key to addressing these problems was the empowerment of women.

The study also found a significant link between unequal relationships and pregnancy risk.

Compared with their peers who had never been pregnant, adolescents who were pregnant were more likely to have had a first sexual partner who was at least five years older, the researchers said, adding that these adolescents also tend to have low self-esteem and believe contraception is solely a woman’s responsibility.

The results of the survey are similar to data released during the launch of the Caribbean Coalition on Women, Girls and AIDS (CCWA) in Trinidad last month.

One study found that for nearly 50 per cent of adolescent girls their first sexual experience was forced.

Official statistics show that in countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic, one in six women between the ages of 15 and 24 became sexually active before the age of 15.

A 2000 survey conducted by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) revealed that nearly half of all young girls reported that their first sexual encounter was forced or coerced.