Abstract

BERNI, Rodrigo; MENDOZA, Sanie  and  ACOSTA, Carolina. Current Sexuality and Reproductive Practices in Female Adolescents at a Child and Adolescent Medical Center. Pediatr. (Asunción) [online]. 2012, vol.39, n.3, pp.183-188. ISSN 1683-9803.

Objective: We assessed the age of first intercourse and related factors as well as the use of contraceptive methods among female adolescents consulting at the Instituto de Previsión Social (Social Insurance Institute) of Paraguay. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective, observational, and analytical study of data gathered from female adolescent patients consulting at the child and adolescent gynecology unit at the Social Insurance Institute’s central hospital (Hospital Dr. Emilio Cubas) from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011. Results: We analyzed 179 cases randomly selected from 397 eligible patients (CI: 95%).Ages in the sample ranged from 11 to 17 years, with a median age of 14.6 years of age, all of whom had experienced menarche; 108 (82.4%) of patients were from the Asunción metropolitan area and 23 (17.6%) from other cities in the country; 47 (26.4%) reported having experienced first intercourse (FI), including 2 cases of sexual abuse (1.1%), while 131 (73.6%) reported not having experienced first intercourse (NFI); on average 19.4% of women experience first intercourse before age 15, while  for the FI group  in our study the average age at first intercourse was 14.8 years of age. In comparing the groups, the average age at the date of consultation for NFI was 14.2 years, FI 15.6 years; from the Asuncion metropolitan area: NFI 82.4%, FI 70.2%; from other parts of the country, NFI 17.6%, FI 29.8%; intact family NFI 68.7%, FI 68.1%; non-intact family, NFI 31.2%, FI 31.9%; share bed with a family member, NFI 25.9%, FI 10.6%; father with primary education only NFI 58.8%, FI 61.2%; father with secondary or tertiary education NFI 41.2%, FI 48.8%; mother with primary education only, NFI 32.5%, FI 55.3%; mother with secondary or tertiary education, NFI 67.5%, FI 45.7%; stepparent present in the home, NFI 30.5%, FI 44.6%; both parents or single mother/father work outside the home NFI 69.5%, FI 55.4%; behind school grade for age, NFI 3.8%, FI 4.2%.In the FI group, 4 (8.5%) reported using hormonal methods for contraception, 40 (85.1%) reported using condoms, and 3 (6.4%) did not use any method; 27 (57.4%) reported using contraceptive methods "always", 17 (36.1%) use them "sometimes" and 3 (6.4%) do not use them at all.

Keywords : First intercourse; adolescence; contraception behavior; educational level.

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