Risk-taking behaviour is more frequent in teenage girls with multiple sexual partners

Figures & data

Table I.  Background data on the study participants.

	Multiple sexual partners group (N = 69)		Reference group (N = 178)		All (N = 247)		p
Age (years)
Mean		17.23		17.37		17.27	0.327
Standard deviation		1.08		1.03		1.07
	%	(n)	%	(n)	%	(n)
School/work attendance
At work	7	(5)	3	(6)	5	(11)
At school or studying	84	(58)	91	(162)	89	(220)
Nothing/Neither/Other	9	(6)	5	(9)	6	(15)
Missing	0	(0)	1	(1)	0	(1)	*0.297
Type of school attended
Vocational	19	(13)	10	(18)	13	(31)
Upper secondary	46	(32)	58	(103)	55	(135)
Comprehensive	16	(11)	19	(33)	18	(44)
Other	3	(2)	3	(6)	3	(8)
Missing	16	(11)	10	(18)	12	(29)	0.208
Menarche age
9–11 years	28	(19)	15	(27)	19	(46)
12–13 years	61	(42)	69	(122)	66	(164)
14–16 years	12	(8)	16	(29)	15	(37)	0.072
Delivery or miscarriage
No	77	(53)	90	(161)	87	(214)
Yes	10	(7)	2	(3)	4	(10)
Missing	13	(9)	8	(14)	9	(23)	0.004
Induced abortion
No	80	(55)	86	(153)	84	(208)
Yes	7	(5)	6	(11)	7	(16)
Missing	13	(9)	8	(14)	9	(23)	0.417
Sexual transmitted disease e
No	86	(59)	98	(175)	95	(234)
Yes	13	(9)	2	(3)	5	(12)
Missing	1	(1)	0	(0)	0	(1)	* < 0.001

*Fisher's exact test; others: Pearson's chi-square.

Table II.  Odds ratios (with 95% confidence intervals) for adolescent risky sexual behavior, defined as having had multiple sexual partners:* Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis.

	Univariate model				Multivariate model
Risk factors	n	OR	95%CI	P	n	OR	95%CI	P
Age	247	1.14	0.87–1.48	0.33	247	1.45	1.00–2.09	0.05
Age sexual initiation (n = 243)
16–18 years	97	1.00			93	1.00
14–15 years	115	3.19	1.58–6.43		108	5.60	2.17–14.46
11–13 years	31	8.95	3.56–22.50	<0.01	30	8.75	2.44–31.38	<0.01
Contraception at the most recent intercourse
Yes	208	1.00			194	1.00
No	38	4.71	2.29–9.69	<0.01	37	3.48	1.32–9.17	0.01
Earlier used contraception methods (n = 247)
Withdrawal
No	169	1.00			157	1.00
Yes	78	3.56	1.94–6.52	<0.01	74	2.34	1.12–4.90	0.02
Emergency contraception
No	145	1.00			133	1.00
Yes	102	1.98	1.08–3.61	0.03	98	2.06	1.00–4.26	0.05
Hormonal contraception
Yes	178	1.00
No	69	0.71	0.37–1.35	0.30
Condom
Yes	236	1.00
No	11	0.24	0.03–1.96	0.18
Consistency of condom use (n = 245)
Never using at all	49	1.00			46	1.00
Using occasionally	163	1.53	0.74–3.16		155	2.10	0.81–5.44
Alwayss using	33	0.31	0.08–1.19	0.03	30	0.85	0.17–4.11	0.16
Smoking (n = 247)
No	115	1.00			104	1.00
Yes	132	3.08	1.68–5.64	<0.01	127	0.94	0.41–2.18	0.88
Binge drinking (n = 237)
Never or a few times a year	133	1.00			128	1.00
Once a month or more often	104	3.17	1.77–5.68	<0.01	103	1.82	0.88–3.78	0.11
Lifetime drug use (n = 247)
No	171	1.00			158	1.00
1–2 times	36	2.99	1.36–6.51		35	1.42	0.54–3.72
3 times or more	40	7.83	3.69–16.61	<0.01	40	4.10	1.58–10.66	0.02
Opinion of probability of getting pregnant if not using contraception (n = 247)
Very probable	133	1.00			125	1.00
Possible	95	1.14	0.63–2.08		87	0.80	0.38–1.73
Very improbable	19	3.37	1.26–9.00	0.05	19	2.68	0.70–10.27	0.23
Opinion of probability of getting STI if not using a condom (n = 247)
Very probable	107	1.00
Possible	128	1.15	0.65–2.04
Very improbable	12	1.41	0.39–5.05	0.82
Attitude towards induced abortion (n = 247)
Alwayss acceptable	73	1.00
Acceptable in certain circumstances	170	1.33	0.70–2.52
Never acceptable	4	9.88	0.96–101.30	0.14

*at least 5 sexual partners in life-time or at least 4 during the last six months.