Citation

Castelo-Branco C, Parera N, Mendoza N, Pérez-Campos E, Lete I. Gynecol. Endocrinol. 2014; 30(8): 581-586.

Affiliation

Clinic Institute of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology , Hospital Clinic .

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.3109/09513590.2014.910190

PMID

24845414

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess alcohol abuse as a predictor of risky sexual behavior among adolescents and young adult women, a high-risk population for unintended pregnancies. Subjects: Totally 3163 adolescent and young adult women, 18-29 years, were assessed on sociodemographics, alcohol and drug use and risky sexual behaviors. Interventions: Participants answered a structured questionnaire on their leisure habits, drug and alcohol consumption, contraception and sexual behaviors.

RESULTS: Most of the young adult women perceive that sexuality is an important part of their life but not a main concern (77.6%) and that alcohol removes the barriers to have sex (62.3%). Additionally, 77.0% claimed that contraception had "a lot" (53.4%) and "quite" (23.6%) influence on the quality of their sexuality. However, up to a 38.4% of the interviewed women had had sex without using any contraception and 29.6% of them acknowledged that had taken alcohol and of these, 40.7% said that alcohol was responsible for not using contraception. Alcohol abuse predicted an increase in risky sexual behaviours (4.45 CI: 2.01-9.75, p < 0.0001). The effect of alcohol was independent of age.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that contraception-related behavioural interventions for young adult women should discuss the link between alcohol and sexual risk behavior.

Language: en