Substance use, risky sexual behaviors, and their associations in a Chinese sample of senior high school students

Yong Cai,Shenghui Li,Xiuxia Ye,Hong Huang,Fengrong Huang,Gang Xu

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-295

Abstract

BackgroundGiven the higher prevalence of risky sexual behaviors and substance use, adolescents and youths are at risk for HIV. Despite its importance, however, to the best of our knowledge, there are only a few researches on risky behaviors in Chinese adolescents/youths. The present study aimed to describe the prevalence of sexual and substance use behaviors among a Chinese sample of senior high school students. And more specifically, the associations of socio-demographic factors and substance use with risky sexual behaviors were examined in the sample.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in 10 senior high schools. A total of 2668 senior high school students aged 15.17 to 23.42 years participated in the survey. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect information on sexual and substance use behaviors.ResultsThe percentages of students who ever had sexual intercourse in lifetime or during last three months were 7.0% and 5.1%, respectively. Among the participants with sexual intercourse during last three months, 42.1% ever had unprotected sexual intercourse and 49.4% had intercourse with two or more partners. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that cigarette smoke and illicit drug use were related to unprotected sexual intercourse (defined as “sexual intercourse without condom use”) and younger age of first sexual intercourse was related to multiple-partner sexual intercourse.ConclusionsHIV/sexual transmitted infection (STI) health education and prevention are necessary among the Chinese adolescents, particularly among those adolescents with experience of sexual intercourse and/or substance use, which has a long-term beneficial to the control of HIV/STI in China.

Highlights

Given the higher prevalence of risky sexual behaviors and substance use, adolescents and youths are at risk for HIV
Our study demonstrated that the proportions of senior high school students who ever had sexual intercourse in lifetime or during last three months were 7.0% and 5.1%, respectively
The present study specially examined the associations between substance use and ongoing unprotected sexual intercourse, where it was shown that substance use, and often/usually cigarette smoking and illicit drug use were strong risk factors for unprotected sexual intercourse, which was in agreement with previous studies [1,5]

Summary

Introduction

Given the higher prevalence of risky sexual behaviors and substance use, adolescents and youths are at risk for HIV. To the best of our knowledge, there are only a few researches on risky behaviors in Chinese adolescents/youths. The present study aimed to describe the prevalence of sexual and substance use behaviors among a Chinese sample of senior high school students. Researches in other countries found a higher prevalence of risky sexual behaviors and substance use in adolescents and youths [5,7,8,9]. Given the higher prevalence of risky sexual behaviors and substance use, adolescents and youths aged 15 to 24 years represent approximately 25% of sexually active persons and account for nearly half of new HIV infection each year in the USA [10]. Adolescents and youths are important subpopulation for sexualrelated prevention and intervention efforts

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion