Sexual behaviour of the young girls in Belgrade

Mazibrada I., Sedlecki K.

Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Family Planning Center, Mother and Child Health Care Institute of Serbia, Belgrade

Introduction: Sexual activity of young girls increases continuously all over the world, as a result of rapid sexual development, social factors and media influence. Alcohol and drug consumption affects their sexuality. As a result of these risk factors, they are more exposed to sexually transmitted diseases, unexpected pregnancies and bring the risk of subsequent infertility.

Objective: This study aims to investigate sexual behaviour among young girls in Belgrade.

Design & Methods: The participants of the study were 200 young girls, patients of the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Mother and Child Health Care Institute of Serbia, Belgrade. The study enrolled all patients who attended this Department during the study period, i.e. 2000 and 2001. The significance of the observed differences was statistically analyzed by means of descriptive statistic.

Results: The participants of the study were aged 15-24, the mean age was 19,5. About 69,5% of them use alcohol regularly, 43,5% smoke and 11% tried some drug. All the participants had sexual intercourse between 14-22, the median age of the first sexual intercourse was 17,16. Only 54,5% of young girls reported condom use as a contraceptive at first intercourse. Regular condom use in prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmissible infections reported 31 participants (15,5%), 63% use it from time to time, while 3% of young girls do not take any preventive measure. Among the girls having sexual relations, 26% had one sexual partner, 38,5% had two partners, 16% three sexual partners and 19,5% more than three.

Conclusion: One of two young girls used contraception at their very first intercourse. Infrequent use of condoms reported 63% of participants, and regular use of modern effective preventive measures reported only 15,5% of sexually active young girls in Belgrade. For this reason, they are more exposed to sexually transmitted diseases and unexpected pregnancies.