The four-part study, which was funded with about 250,000 from the Department for Education and Skills, Department of Health and the Teenage Pregnancy Unit, focused on starting sex, contraception and protection, the effect of drinking and substance abuse, and religious and cultural influences.
About 2,675 13- to 16-year-olds took part in a study by University College London that was backed up by interviews with 146 15- to 18-year-olds in Newham, Hackney and Tower Hamlets conducted by City University.
Dr Shamser Sinha, research fellow in sexual health at City University, said: "Stereotypes of Black young people as the most sexually active were unfounded. Twenty-four per cent of White young people and 25 per cent of Black British young people had reported having sexual intercourse, but the one per cent difference doesn't justify the stereotype." Sinha said that Black British young men were found to be more likely to use a condom than White young men. "However, about 83 per cent of all young people reported using contraception, which shows that they do think about safe sex."
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