Global Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco, 550 16th Street, Third Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, University of Washington, Bothell, USA.
AIDS Behav. 2018 Jul;22(Suppl 1):57-64. doi: 10.1007/s10461-018-2058-9.
Current policies limit access to sexual and reproductive health services for adolescents younger than 16 years in Jamaica. Using data from a national survey, we explored the relationship between age at sexual initiation and subsequent sexual risk behaviors in a random sample of 837 Jamaican adolescents and young adults aged 15-24 years. In the sample overall, 21.0% had not yet had sex. Among the 661 sexually active participants, the mean age at first sex was 14.7 years. High percentages of sexually active youth reported engaging in risk behaviors such as inconsistent condom use (58.8%), multiple sex partners (44.5%), and transactional sex (43.0%). Age of sexual initiation for males was unrelated to subsequent sexual risk behaviors. However, earlier sexual debut for females was associated with their number of partners during the preceding year. Findings underscore the potential benefits of access to sexual and reproductive education and services at earlier ages than current policies allow. Interventions before and during the period of sexual debut may reduce sexual risk for Jamaican adolescents and young adults.
现行政策限制了 16 岁以下青少年获得性与生殖健康服务的机会。本文利用来自全国性调查的数据，对随机抽取的 837 名年龄在 15 至 24 岁的牙买加青少年和年轻人样本，研究了性初潮年龄与随后性行为风险之间的关系。在整个样本中，21.0%的人尚未发生过性行为。在 661 名有过性行为的参与者中，首次性行为的平均年龄为 14.7 岁。高比例的性活跃青年报告了一些风险行为，如避孕套使用不规律（58.8%）、多个性伴侣（44.5%）和性交易（43.0%）。男性的性初潮年龄与随后的性行为风险无关。然而，女性性初潮较早与她们在前一年的性伴侣数量有关。这些发现强调了在现行政策允许的更早年龄获得性与生殖健康教育和服务的潜在益处。在性初潮前和期间进行干预可能会降低牙买加青少年和年轻人的性风险。
