Abstract
BackgroundKnowledge about the prevalence of sexual risk behaviour (SRB) in adolescence is needed to prevent unwanted health consequences. Studies on SRB among adolescents in Central Europe are rare and mostly rely on a single indicator for SRB. This study aims to assess the association of behavioural and psychological factors with three types of SRB in adolescents in Central Europe.MethodsWe obtained data on behavioural factors (having been drunk during previous month, smoking during previous week, early sexual initiation), psychological factors (self-esteem, well-being, extroversion, neuroticism, religiousness), and SRB (intercourse under risky conditions, multiple sexual partners, and inconsistent condom use) in 832 Slovak university students (response 94.3%).ResultsAmong those with sexual experience (62%), inconsistent condom use was the most prevalent risk behaviour (81% in females, 72% in males). With the exception of having been drunk in males, no factor was associated with inconsistent condom use. Regarding the other types of SRB, early sexual initiation was most strongly associated. In addition, other, mostly behavioural, factors were associated, in particular having been drunk.ConclusionResults suggest that behavioural factors are more closely related to SRB than psychological factors. Associations differ by type of SRB and gender but offer few clues to target risk groups for inconsistent condom use. Results show a high need for health-promotion programmes in early adolescence that target SRB in conjunction with other health risk behaviours such as alcohol abuse.
Highlights
Knowledge about the prevalence of sexual risk behaviour (SRB) in adolescence is needed to prevent unwanted health consequences
This study on SRB in young adults in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) shows that the occurrence of SRB in Slovak young adults varies from 21 to 81% of sexually experienced respondents (n = 455), depending on the indicator used
The overall findings of our study suggest that the specification of SRB into three indicators contributes to a better understanding and description of SRB
Summary
Knowledge about the prevalence of sexual risk behaviour (SRB) in adolescence is needed to prevent unwanted health consequences. This study aims to assess the association of behavioural and psychological factors with three types of SRB in adolescents in Central Europe. Studies on sexual behaviour from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are scarce. The best recent information available is based on the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) studies 2001/2002 and 2005/2006 [1]. In both studies (Slovakia is not included in the first one) adolescents from Central and Eastern Europe reported that they were less experienced with sexual intercourse, used contraception pills or condoms during their most recent sexual intercourse to a lesser degree and initiated sexual intercourse later in life than their peers from most Western countries. A decrease in the age at which they become sexually active is evident, among females, leading to a narrowing of the gap between boys and girls regarding the time of sexual initiation
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