Abstract

PIMENTEL, Maria Helena; PRETO, Leonel São Romão; ALVES, Maria José Gonçalves  and  MONTEIRO, Ana Margarida P. C.. Sexual behavior and students of higher education. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2016, vol.17, n.3, pp.352-367. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/16psd170304.

Several researches on sexual health have been developed along the last past years and young people have been privileged in those studies. However knowledge about the behavior of college students concerning this solid matter in Portugal, insufficient. That´s why we developed the present study aiming to identify health determinants and risk profile among these young people, related to sexual behavior. It was developed a descriptive-correlational study using a sample of 272 male students (40, 5%) and 400 female students (59, 5%) stratified by graduation and school, in 672 students. Most of the students (86%) it has sexual activity and within these the majority were male (93%) with high significant differences of proportions (p<0,001). More than a half (58%) began sexual activity in an unplanned way and 41% had it planned. Condom is the most used method (60, 3%), 62% of the boys declared not to use any kind of contraceptive method (p<0,001) ?ere is a highly significant association between the number of sexual partners and the use of contraceptive methods (p=0,001) and also between the greater number of sexual partners and the use of condom used as the only method or in association with contraceptive pills. 40% of the girls referred that “once” they were afraid of getting pregnant and 17,5% referred that they were afraid “more than once” and from these, 60% used the emergency contraception in the past 12 months. It is concluded that information about the risks involved in sexual behavior should be, in this group, a priority for action.

Keywords : Sexual Behavior; Higher Education Students.

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