Psychological factors associated with adolescent sexual behavior

Abstract

Sexually transmitted infections are increasing in Brazilian adolescents and youth. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and other psychosocial variables with condom use behavior and sexual debut in a sample of adolescents from Santa Maria-RS. Data was collected with 452 adolescents (57% girls), mean age of 15.9 years (SD = 1.4), using the Brazilian Youth Questionnaire – Phase II. Condom use behavior was not associated with self-esteem or self-efficacy in the logistic regression model, contrary to the main hypothesis. General self-efficacy was positively associated with sexual debut, while religiosity was negatively associated with this outcome. Family support was associated with older age at sexual debut. The findings support the importance of analyzing different sexual behaviors separately, as they may have distinct predictors. Studies should use specific measures of self-efficacy when studying sexual behavior and measure how participants value different sexual behaviors.