Sexual behavior of Lithuanian students and their usage of contraception

Abstract

Adolescents construct their identities by integrating feelings, needs and desires. Therefore, by this time many individuals initiate sexual activity (1). Adolescents either do not use, misuse or inconsistently use contraceptive methods. Thus, young people face increased risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. (2, 3). We wanted to investigate sexual behavior of Lithuanian students and evaluate their usage of contraception. 8417 11 – 12th grade students in five major Lithuania cities and their districts were surveyed with original anonymous questionnaire. From all the students 2850 (34%) already had their first sexual intercourse. The age median of the first sexual intercourse was 17 years, with mean age 16, 3. Almost quarter of our respondents, who already had sex, consumed alcohol, narcotic substances or both during their first sexual experience. Almost 83 percent of sexually active students were using various contraceptive methods during their first intercourse. The most popular method was condoms. In our concern, about 11 percent of students trusted interrupted coitus as main contraceptive method. A bit more than half sexually active students claimed to have one sex partner, the others – two and more. In conclusion, despite quite high rate of sexual activity and young age of the first sexual experience, usage of various contraceptive methods was quite high comparing with previous studies – the usage of contraception during first sexual intercourse was 79,8% (4) .