Abstract
Youths and adolescents are vulnerable to HIV/STIs from unprotected sex. Promotion of young population’s awareness about risky sexual behaviors is essential to develop contextualized interventions. A cross-sectional study was conducted in five Vietnamese provinces to document current attitudes and practices regarding sexual behaviors among youths. The information on sociodemographic characteristics, substance use, and sexual behaviors was collected via self-reported questionnaires. The factors associated with risky sexual behaviors were identified by the multivariate logistic regression. Among the 1200 participants, 73.5% reported having sex in their lifetime, and 48.1% used condoms at their latest sexual intercourse. Participants in urban areas were more likely not to intend to use condoms and had a higher unintended pregnancy rate than in rural areas. Older age was positively associated with not wanting to use and not using condoms. Substance-using participants were more likely to not use condoms. The participants taking alcohol or other stimulants before sex had a higher likelihood of unintended pregnancy. Respondents’ attitudes and practices regarding sexual behaviors were associated with gender and employment. This study indicated that young population’s awareness in Vietnam is high, however, risky sexual behaviors also remain common. Sex-related educational programs about the consequences of substance use, multiple sex partners, and unprotected sex should be developed.
Highlights
Risky sexual behaviors among youths and adolescents are a global public health issue [1,2]
The findings of this study indicated that the rates of young people who did not want or did not have the intention to use condoms during sexual intercourse were alarming
We found that condom use rates were lower in urban than in mountainous areas in our study, which might be contributed by the diversity of pills and other modern contraceptives
Summary
Risky sexual behaviors among youths and adolescents are a global public health issue [1,2]. Young people experience substantial physical and psychosocial sequelae of the HIV infection [3]. To effectively prevent and control the HIV infection, more researche is needed to study risky behaviors among youths and adolescents in a culturally relevant context in order to fill research gaps [4,5]. The prevalence of young people reporting that they do not use condoms consistently during sexual intercourse has been found to be relatively high, e.g., in 2013, this rate was about 40% in the USA [6]. Unprotected sexual practices substantially increase the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancies [9,10]. Condomless sexual activities have decreased in the recent years, it has been insufficient to curb the epidemic of HIV/AIDS and STIs [11]
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