Premarital Sex among Rural Adolescents in North India: A School Based Study

The adolescence is a transitional stage of physical, mental and social development generally starts by puberty and ends by adulthood. Adolescents are energetic, inquisitive and have an urge to do new things but at the same time they have lack guidance and may indulge in unsafe sexual activity and also they are prone to alcohol addiction, drug abuse and other social problems.

To study prevalence of premarital sexual activity and to study various factors associated with premarital sexual activity among study subjects.

The study was undertaken in block Beri, which serves as the field practice area of Department of Community Medicine Pt. BD Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana, India. The study was conducted among male students of senior secondary schools of block Beri in the year 2011. The study universe comprised of 1000 malestudents in middle and late adolescence (aged 14–18 years) studying in 9th to 12th classes of the senior secondary schools in the area.

Out of 1000 study subjects, 33.7% had indulged in premarital sexual activity. The mean age of initiating sexual activity was 14.95 years. Adolescents of 14–16 yrs of age were most active involved in sexual activities as compared to other age groups of adolescent age.

The study concludes that a handful of adolescent are involved in premarital sexual activity and knowledge of adolescents regarding use of condom during sexual intercourse is meager. As usage of condom during sexual intercourse is also very low, hence they are at increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections.