Associação entre as condutas de risco do uso de álcool e sexo desprotegido em adolescentes numa cidade do Sul do Brasil

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze alcohol abuse and unprotected sex and the association between them in students in a city in the southern region of Brazil. This is a cross-sectional study using a quantitative approach with 590 secondary school students from two public schools. Regarding alcohol use, 14% scored from eight to 40 in The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), which means, at least, a risky drinking behavior, with higher rate among boys. Moreover, 31.1% indulged themselves in binge drinking, which means drinking six or more doses according to AUDIT; and even among those who are low- risk drinkers, 21.1% had this drinking pattern. Regarding sexual behavior, young boys started sexual life earlier and the kind of relationship more referred to by them is one with no commitment; boys have uncommitted relationships, while girls have more relationships with commitment. In relation to the results of the association between alcohol use and sexual intercourse, 47.3% stated alcohol use before having sex, and those who started sexual activity got more drunk and had higher scores in the AUDIT. New studies are recommended regarding the association between both behaviors in Brazil, considering that the causal relationship is not clear and shows several explanation models.

Individual and contextual factors associated with sexual initiation among adolescents

“…The mean age at the first sexual intercourse was similar to the age found by other Brazilian studies (Dallo & Martins, 2018;Oliveira, Béria, & Schermann, 2014;Silva, Lourdes, Barroso, & Guedes, 2015), as well as by international studies (Espada et al, 2014;Ruiz et al, 2015;Young, Burke, & Gabhainn, 2018). In addition, there were no gender-related differences for any of the variables investigated and the age of sexual debut was similar between boys and girls, contrary to other studies reporting a tendency for boys to initiate sexual activity earlier (Moura et al, 2013;Puente et al, 2011;Silva et al, 2015).…”

“…Sexual activity seems to occur in conjunction with other behaviors that may influence adolescent development, such as alcohol/drug use and experimentation, and lower school achievement, as well as family characteristics including its configuration and level of support (Alves, Zappe, & Dell'Aglio, 2015;Bertoni et al, 2009;Dallo & Martins, 2018;Puente et al, 2011;Zappe & Dell'Aglio, 2016). In the present study, the use/experimentation of tobacco and other illicit drugs was also related to the inconsistent condom use, highlighting these behaviors as possible predictors of greater sexual risk.…”

“…The present study aimed to evaluate the association between individual and contextual factors and sexual activity in adolescence, also addressing early sexual initiation and inconsistent condom use, behaviors that have been associated with health risks (Dallo & Martins, 2018;Espada et al, 2014). The results showed that adolescents who had sexual debut made more use of alcohol, had repeated a grade at school, belonged to single-parent or extended family configurations and had a greater perception of autonomy in relation to their family.…”

“…The last National School Health Survey reported that 19% of the Brazilian adolescents aged 13 to 17 years, among a sample of 10.926, had already tried tobacco and 54.3% had already tried alcohol before the age of 15, with 21% having had at least one episode of drunkenness and 7% having engaged in some conflict with their family due to alcohol use. Other studies have drawn attention to alcohol use among adolescents, warning for the development of dependence (Bertoni et al, 2009;Colder, Shyhalla, & Frndak, 2018;Dallo & Martins, 2018;IBGE, 2016) and the concomitance with other risk behaviors, (Dallo & Martins, 2018;Sasaki, Leles, Matla, Sardinha, & Freire, 2015). However, it is important to point out that more socially vulnerable groups, such as adolescents living in the street or institutionalized adolescents, tend to present higher rates of substance use and earlier sexual debut, indicating that the presence of the family and the school and increased access to health services may be protective factors (Zappe et al, 2018).…”

“…The main sexual risk behaviors investigated in the literature have been the inconsistent condom use and early sexual initiation (e.g., before the age of 15) (Dallo & Martins, 2018;Espada, Morales, & Orgilés, 2014). Not using condoms exposes adolescents to STIs or unplanned pregnancies.…”