Onset of sexual intercourse among adolescent students: a cross-sectional study of sexual risk behavior in Abaetetuba, Pará State, Brazil

Abstract

Adolescence is a life stage from 10 to 19 years old, featured by conflicts and discoveries. In this period, teenagers begin their first sexual experiences and may have sexual risk behaviors of infection by STD/AIDS, which can be: early onset of sexual intercourse and inconsistent condom use. This study aimed to identify the age of first sexual intercourse and condom use at in school teenagers from 14 to 19 years old, high school students enrolled in public schools in the Municipality of Abaetetuba, Pará State, Brazil in 2010. A self-administered, pre-coded and anonymous questionnaire with closed questions was used for data collection, adapted from "Pesquisa de Comportamento, Atitudes e Práticas da População Brasileira sobre DST/AIDS, 2008" conducted by Brazil's Ministry of Health. For the statistical tests, the STATISTICA^® v.6.0 and BioEstat v.5.0 softwares were used. 603 adolescents were interviewed, 61.03% (368) women and 38.97% (235) men, with a mean age of 17.14 years old. 49.25% of adolescents (297) had begun their sexual intercourse with a mean age at first intercourse of 15-23 years old. Early sexual initiation was associated to the male sex (OR = 3.72, CI 95% 2.13-6.47; p < 0.0001). Condom use at first intercourse was associated with gender, with more consistent condom use by women (OR = 2.04, CI 95% 1.20-3.47; p = 0.011). 27.95% of adolescents did not use condom at their first intercourse, which 66.26% were men. Sexual risk behavior was observed in the sample studied, especially in the male population.