Abstract
In India pre-marital sex although is taboo, interplay of multitude of factors exposes adolescent girls to pre-marital sex leading to unwanted pregnancy and further intricacies. Awareness of emergency contraceptive pills (ECP) can shield girls against such predicaments and associated social stigmas. Hence, this paper assesses the sexual exposure and awareness of ECP among the never married adolescent girls in India by taking the National Family Health Survey 2005-06 (NFHS-3) data. Out of the total sample, 15,320 adolescent girls of the age group 15-19 years, who are never married and de jure residents are retained for this study. Levels are found out through percentage distribution; associations are assessed through cross tabulation and logistic regression is applied to find out the determinants. It is found that in India, about 0.6 percent of never married adolescent girls have already experienced sex, out of whom 22.4 percent were active during four weeks prior to the survey. Multi-variate result shows that with the increase in age, probability of having pre-marital sex also increases, whereas with the improvement in household wealth index, probability goes down. Overall merely 4.9 percent of adolescent girls are aware of ECP. Age, education, religion and exposure to sexual intercourse exert significant effect on the awareness of ECP. Older, better educated, richer and sexually experienced girls are more likely to be aware of ECP, whereas rural and Muslim girls are less likely to be aware of ECP.
Highlights
Rapid modernization, westernization, lack of parental control, easy accessibility to mass media and pornographic materials, etc. expose adolescents to pre-marital sex
Relating to the question of emergency contraceptive pills (ECP), 13 girls did not respond, thereby the analyses of ECP are based on 15,307 unmarried adolescent girls, whereas analyses on sexual exposure are based on 15,320 samples
It implies that in terms of percentage, pretty negligible percentages are exposed to pre-marital sex, which should not be a matter of concern
Summary
Westernization, lack of parental control, easy accessibility to mass media and pornographic materials, etc. expose adolescents to pre-marital sex. Pre-marital sex, especially among adolescents is unplanned, thereby is unprotected. In India, pre-marital sex, especially for girls is taboo. Virginity is given high priority in marriage, so it is difficult to get a suitable match for sexually exposed unmarried girl. Emergency contraception (EC) reduces the need for induced abortion and related complexities. Knowledge of EC would protect a large number of girls from the trauma of induced abortions, as well as reduce morbidities and mortalities and pregnancy complications (Sebastian et al, 2005). Available literatures suggest that EC is the term given to methods of contraception that can be used by women following unprotected vaginal sex to prevent an unplanned pregnancy. EC should be used within 120 hours of unprotected sex, preferably within 72 hours, they are more effective the earlier they are taken
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
