Associations between health-risk behaviours and non-condom use among 28,620 Danish students: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Purpose

Investigations into the associations between health-risk behaviours and non-condom use are important for planning effective preventive interventions targeted sexually transmitted infections. To date, there are no such studies on the Danish general population. The aim of this study was to examine associations between health-risk behaviours (including daily smoking, frequent binge-drinking, cannabis use within the last month and illicit drug use) and non-condom use among Danish students.

Material and method

Cross-sectional data from 28,620 sexually active students aged 15–25 years from the Danish National Youth Study 2014 were analysed using multilevel logistic regression.

Results

Health-risk behaviours (daily smoking, frequent binge-drinking, cannabis use within the last month and illicit drug use) were significantly associated with higher odds for non-condom use among Danish students, even after adjustment for age, gender, education, religion, and geographical region. The associations remained significant after adjusting for the remaining health-risk behaviours.

Conclusion

Overall, the study showed a clear association between health-risk behaviours and non-condom use among Danish students. The findings of this study have important implications for future planning of more targeted health promotion intervention programmes aimed to increase condom use among young people as a means to reduce sexually transmitted infections.

丹麦28,620 名学生健康风险行为与非安全套使用之间的关系：一项横断面研究 摘要

目的：调查健康风险行为与不使用安全套之间的关系对于针对性传播感染作有效预防措施非常重要。迄今为止, 还没有针对丹麦普通人群的此类研究。本研究的目的是调查丹麦学生的健康风险行为（包括日常吸烟、经常酗酒、上个月使用大麻和非法药物使用）与不使用安全套之间的关联。

材料和方法：使用多层次逻辑回归分析来自 2014 年丹麦国家青年研究的28,620名15-25岁性活跃学生的横断面数据。

结果：健康风险行为（每天吸烟、经常酗酒、上个月使用大麻和非法药物使用）与丹麦学生不使用安全套的几率显著相关, 即使在调整了年龄、性别、教育程度宗教和地理区域后也是如此。在调整了剩余的健康风险行为后, 这些关联仍然显着。

结论：总体而言, 该研究表明丹麦学生的健康风险行为与不使用安全套之间存在明显关联。 这项研究的结果对未来规划更有针对性的健康促进干预计划具有重要意义, 旨在增加年轻人使用安全套作为减少性传播感染的一种手段。

Keywords:

• Health behaviour
• sexual behaviour
• non-condom use
• young people
• cross-sectional survey

Acknowledgements

We thank all schools and participants of the Danish National Youth Study 2014 (DNYS). The DNYS was funded by the Danish Ministry of Education and the Tryg Foundation. The survey was carried out by the National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Danish Cancer Society under Grant [number R163-A10654].