Teenage boys reportedly under-use sexual health clinics while girls of the same age use them more often.
A study of gender differences in the use of sexual health services has been published in the New Zealand Medical Journal.
The study found only 12.5% of teenage boys attended a sexual health clinic, which was half the number of girls the same age who did.
However, in later years, men are at least as likely, if not more so, to make full use of available services.
The data was collected from a Hamilton-based clinic over a nine month period.
Authors Jane Morgan and Jarrod Haar say the current health system and health promotion messages are tailored to women, and are therefore ignored by young men.
