Department of Community and Family Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, 13201 Bruce B Downs Blvd, MDC 56, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA.
Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Ave, SOC107, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA.
J Community Health. 2018 Apr;43(2):268-272. doi: 10.1007/s10900-017-0416-6.
The national teen birth rate is higher in rural compared to urban areas. While national data suggest rural areas may present higher risk for adverse sexual health outcomes among adolescents, it is unknown whether there are differences within the state of Florida. Overall, Florida has poorer sexual health indicators for adolescents compared to national rates. The purpose of this study was to assess differences in sexual behaviors among Florida adolescents by rural-urban community location. This study includes baseline data from a randomized controlled trial conducted in Florida high schools. Of the 6316 participants, 74% were urban and 26% were rural. Participants responded to questions on sexual behaviors, sexual behavior intentions, and demographics. We estimated the effect of rural-urban status on risk outcomes after controlling for demographic variables using generalized linear mixed models. More teens from rural areas reported ever having sex (24.0%) compared to urban teens (19.7%). No significant differences were observed for most of sexual behaviors assessed. Nonetheless, urban participants were less likely to intend to have sex without a condom in the next year compared to rural participants (aOR = 0.76, 95% CI 0.63-0.92). Overall, there were no major differences in sexual behaviors between rural and urban adolescents in Florida. However, sexual intentions differed between rural and urban adolescents; specifically, rural adolescents were more likely to intend to have sex without a condom in the next year compared to urban adolescents. Understanding the specific disparities can inform contraception and sexual health interventions among rural youth.
全国青少年出生率在农村地区高于城市地区。虽然全国数据表明农村地区的青少年性健康结果可能存在更高的风险，但佛罗里达州内是否存在差异尚不清楚。总的来说，佛罗里达州青少年的性健康指标比全国平均水平更差。本研究旨在评估佛罗里达州青少年的性行为在农村-城市社区位置上的差异。本研究包括在佛罗里达州高中进行的随机对照试验的基线数据。在 6316 名参与者中，74%来自城市，26%来自农村。参与者回答了关于性行为、性行为意图和人口统计数据的问题。我们使用广义线性混合模型，在控制人口统计学变量后，估计了农村-城市地位对风险结果的影响。更多来自农村地区的青少年报告有过性行为（24.0%），而城市青少年则为 19.7%。评估的大多数性行为没有观察到显著差异。尽管如此，与农村参与者相比，城市参与者在下一年没有使用避孕套发生性行为的可能性较小（aOR=0.76，95%CI 0.63-0.92）。总的来说，佛罗里达州农村和城市青少年的性行为没有重大差异。然而，农村和城市青少年的性行为意图存在差异；具体而言，农村青少年在下一年没有使用避孕套发生性行为的可能性比城市青少年更大。了解具体的差异可以为农村青年的避孕和性健康干预提供信息。
