BACKGROUND Annually, over 1 million births in Nigeria are to teenage mothers. Many of these pregnancies are unwanted and these mothers are also exposed to the risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Sexual abstinence is a critical preventative health strategy. Several quantitative studies in Nigeria have identified the correlates and determinants of early sex, yet few have explore...

CONTEXT Premarital sexual activity is thought to be rising in Vietnam. However, there is little evidence documenting such an increase, and it is unknown whether levels of premarital sex differ between northern and southern Vietnam and whether premarital sex occurs primarily with a future spouse. METHODS Surveys conducted in northern Vietnam (Red River Delta) and southern Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh ...

We evaluated whether family planning counseling (FPC) in an adolescent clinic promoted the onset of sexual activity among the non-sexually active teens and/or increased contraceptive use among the sexually active teens. The FPC focused on the teens' establishing sexual values, the right to say "no," abstinence and alternate forms of intimacy, consequences of intercourse, and the various contrac...

More than one fourth of the total population in Iran are young people aged 10-24 (1). On the one hand, strong cultural and religious values surround sexuality before marriage and on the other hand, shifts towards greater interaction between young men and women are occurring in response to the spread of education among females, the postponement of marriage, and outside influences (2-4). Although...

CONTEXT More and more Chinese adolescents are engaging in premarital sexual activity. As a result, the numbers of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among Chinese young adults have increased markedly. METHODS A comprehensive sex education program, including information on abstinence, contraception and healthy sexual behaviors, was carried out in a suburb of Shang...

Sexual health (SH) and sexual behavior of young people have become a growing public concern. But few studies have been conducted to investigate the prevalence and psychosocial correlates of this phenomenon. Purpose: To understand college students’ sexual knowledge (SK), sexual attitudes (SA), sexual desire (SD) and sexual behavior (SB). Methods: A self-reported questionnaire survey on SK, SA, S...

BACKGROUND Sexual abstinence is the best available option for preventing both pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. Identifying the factors associated with sexual abstinence among youths would have meaningful implications in a generalized HIV epidemic country such as the Côte d'Ivoire. Thus, we explored sexual abstinence behavior among never-married individuals aged...

Variations in the ejaculatory abstinence durations suggested by different guidance bodies have resulted in a growing concern among researchers over what the concise period of ejaculatory abstinence for an optimal semen sample ought to be. Several studies have been undertaken to examine the association between the length of sexual abstinence and semen characteristics. Not all studies, however, h...