Objectives: Presentation of: frequency of sexual debut and its age among 16- and 18-year-olds; number of sexual partners and use contraception methods among sexually active adolescents.
Material and method: Representative sample of adolescents aged 16 and 18 years in Poland, students of different type of high schools (N=2893; 1490 boys, 1403 girls) was used. Four questions concerning sexual behaviour were included in anonymous questionnaire and were derived from U.S. the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).
Results: Among 18-year-olds 49.9% of boys and 47.3% of girls reported sexual debut with mean age 16.5 and 16.8 years respectively. 26.4% of students have had sexual intercourse at age 15 years or earlier. The frequency of sexual initiation increased with age, was higher among adolescents living in towns than in villages and was the highest among vocational school students. 26.3% of adolescents had three or more and 8,8% had six or more sexual partners. 11.1% of sexually active adolescents reported that either they or their partners had use any method of contraception during their last sexual intercourse. The most common contraception methods used was condom (it was reported by 82.9% of boys and 75.2% of girls). 41.1% of adolescents used ineffective methods: withdrawal and "natural methods".
Conclusions: Approximately half of 18-year-olds started their sexual life. There is not gender differences in sexual debut frequency. The risk of unwanted pregnancy, STDs infections and other sexual and reproductive health problems is the highest among girls living in towns and students of vocational schools. The development of family planning and sexual and reproductive health services for young people in Poland is necessary.