Adolescência e vida sexual: um perfil epidemiológico em adolescentes escolares do município de Abaetetuba, Pará

Abstract

Adolescence is a phase of life between 10 and 19 years characterized by conflicts and discoveries, At this stage the adolescents begin to live their first sexual experiences and may submit to sexual risk behaviors to STD infection and AIDS. In order to verify the occurrence of sexual risk behaviors among adolescent students in the city of Abaetetuba, we performed a cross sectional observational study in adolescents from 14 to 19 years old from four different Public Schools at High School in order to identify sexual risk behaviors and their possible associations. We performed statistical tests of odds ratio, chi-square test of independence, G test of independence and Correspondence Analysis for the treatment of data. The sample was 603 adolescents formed by 61.03% (368) women and 38.97% (235) men with a mean age of 17.14 years (SD = ± 1.14 years). Sexually active were 49.25% (297), 54.55% (162) men and 45.45% (135) women, 50.75% (306) did not have their first sexual intercourse, 76.14% (233) women and 23.86% (73) men. The average at first sexual intercourse was 15.23 years and sexual initiation was associated with male gender (OR = 2.43, 95% CI 1.51 – 3.91, p= 0.0003). The onset of sexual activity was associated with inconsistent practice of religion (OR = 8.33, 95% CI 3.15 – 22.05, p <0.0001). Condom use at first sexual intercourse was associated with gender, and women had more consistent use at this occasion (OR = 2.04, 95% CI 1.20 – 3.47, p = 0.011); 29.97 % (89) did not use condom at that occasion, 52.81% (47) women and 47.19% (42) men. Family income was associated with sexual initiation (p=0.0113). The multiple sexual partners in the past three months was associated with male gender (p=0.0001), and male gender was statistically significant compared with the categories of "two", "three" and "more than four" with 83%, 78% and 80% respectively. Friends were the main source of information about sex and sexuality; 91.71% (553) have never taken laboratory tests for detection of HIV. There are sexual risk behaviors among adolescents in this study in particular for the males, so it is necessary to implement policies aimed to adolescent sexual health to be promoted by families, schools, religious institutions and public authorities.