Sexual behavior of Lithuanian high school students

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the sexual behavior of Lithuanian high school students.

Study design: School-based anonymous self-administered survey of high school students, conducted from February to June 2017.

Results: Of 167 invited schools, 113 (67.7%) agreed to participate in the survey with a response rate of 75% among invited students (8143/10,811). Respondents' median age was 18 (range 16-20) years. Nearly one-third of students (31.3%) reported sexual intercourse with a median age at coitarche of 17 years. Most (82.9%) used contraception at coitarche. Contraception at coitarche was more common among those who were sober at coitarche (aOR 2.2, 95% CI 1.5-3.2). Students whose parents had discussed sex with them were more likely to plan coitarche (aOR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.5). Students searching for information about sexual life more often had their coitarche sober than those not searching for information (29.7% (n = 60) vs 21.1% (n = 497, p = 0.006).

Conclusions: Every fifth high school student reported contraceptive nonuse; however, only 6% indicated the use of reliable dual contraception during the first sexual intercourse.

Implications: Efforts are needed to improve the sexual education offered to Lithuanian adolescents to ensure the many sexually active adolescents are aware of how to protect themselves from infection and undesired pregnancy.

Keywords: Adolescents; Parents; Relationships; Sexual debut; Sexual initiation; Sexuality education.