Prevalence of sexual intercourse in students of secondary between 10 and 12 years old in Santa Marta Colombia

• Main Authors: Guillermo Augusto Ceballos, Adalberto Campo Arias
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Nacional de Colombia 2006-01-01
• Series: Revista de la Facultad de Medicina
• Subjects: sexualidad; comportamiento; epidemiología (prevalencia); conducta del adolescente; estudiantes.
• Online Access: https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/revfacmed/article/view/23093

Background: the age of starting sexual intercourse has decreased in last decades. However, we do not know the prevalence of sexual relationship in middle-school students aged 10-12 years old. Objective: to establish the prevalence of sexual relationship in middle-school boys and girls students aged 10-12 years old in Santa Marta, Colombia. Materials and method: a sample of 298 middle-school students, with an average age of 11.5 (DE 0.65), of three private schools were chosen by convenience; these students completed an anonymous survey about sexual behaviors. Logistic regression was used to identify protector factors that were related to not have had sexual relationship, adjusting for possible confounding variables. Results: the prevalence of sexual relationship was 7.7% (95%CI 4.7-10.7). Significant protector factors identified was not having ever smoked (OR 0.12, 95%CI 0.04-0.41), not having drunk alcohol (OR 0.06, 95%CI 0.01-0.48), and being a girl (OR 0.22, 95%CI 0.07-0.76). Conclusions: one out of three middle-school students aged 10-12years old report to have had sexual relationship. The prevalence was lower among who have never smoked or drunk alcohol, and girls.