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Individual and social determinants of early sexual activity: A study of gender-based differences using the 2018 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC).

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION:Early sexual activity, often defined as initiation before the age of 16, is a risk behaviour associated with negative health outcomes in adulthood. The objective of this study was to explore links between early sexual activity and individual and contextual characteristics in Canadian youth, and whether these differ for girls and boys. METHODS:Data were from the 2018 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey administered in classrooms across Canada to students in grades 6 to 10 (ages 11 to 16). The sample includes the 7882 students in grades 9 and 10 who were asked about sexual activity. Individual and contextual measures used included emotional well-being, socioeconomic status, participation in team sports, body image, social media use, family structure, and family support. Descriptive data overall and separately for girls and boys are presented, followed by Poisson regression models to estimate relative risks and associated 95% confidence intervals for strength of associations between characteristics and early sexual activity. Models were adjusted for clustering by school using generalised estimating equations. RESULTS:Overall, contextual factors i.e. disrupted family structure or low family support were the characteristics most strongly associated with early sexual activity. Among boys there was an incremental and strong relationship between hours spent in organised sport and early sexual activity. Among girls, poorer body image, lower socioeconomic status, and higher social media use aligned most strongly with early sexual activity. CONCLUSION:Persistent gender stereotypes appear to underlie differences in individual and contextual factors associated with adolescents' sexual behaviour. Findings from this exploratory analysis may be of benefit to subsequent researchers, policy makers and those who care for youth.

SUBMITTER: Gazendam N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7470420 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Individual and social determinants of early sexual activity: A study of gender-based differences using the 2018 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC).

Gazendam Naomi N Cleverley Kathryn K King Nathan N Pickett William W Phillips Susan P SP

PloS one 20200903 9

<h4>Introduction</h4>Early sexual activity, often defined as initiation before the age of 16, is a risk behaviour associated with negative health outcomes in adulthood. The objective of this study was to explore links between early sexual activity and individual and contextual characteristics in Canadian youth, and whether these differ for girls and boys.<h4>Methods</h4>Data were from the 2018 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey administered in classrooms across Canad ...[more]

PMID: 32881922

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Project description:BackgroundThe need to tackle sexual health problems and promote positive sexual health has been acknowledged in Irish health policy. Young people's sexual behaviour however remains under-researched with limited national data available.MethodsThis study presents the first nationally representative and internationally comparable data on young people's sexual health behaviours in Ireland. Self-complete questionnaire data were collected from 4494 schoolchildren aged 15-18 years as part of a broader examination of health behaviour and their context. The prevalence of sexual initiation, very early sexual initiation (< 14 years) and non-condom use at last intercourse are reported and used as outcomes in separate multilevel logistic regression models examining associations between sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle characteristics and young people's sexual behaviours.ResultsOverall, 25.7% of boys and 21.2% of girls were sexually initiated. Older age was consistently predictive of initiation for both boys and girls, as were alcohol, tobacco and cannabis involvement, living in poorer neighbourhoods and having good communication with friends. Involvement in music and drama was protective. Very early sexual initiation (< 14 years) was reported by 22.8% of sexually initiated boys and 13.4% of sexually initiated girls, and was consistently associated with rural living, cannabis involvement and bullying others for both. Boys' very early initiation was predicted by alcohol involvement, receiving unhealthy food from parents and taking medication for psychological symptoms, whereas better communication with friends and more experience of negative health symptoms were protective. Girls' very early initiation was predicted by being bullied and belonging to a non-Traveller community, whereas taking medication for physical symptoms and attending regular health checks was protective. Condom use was reported by 80% of sexually initiated students at last intercourse. Boys' condom use was associated with older age, higher family affluence, bullying others, more frequent physical activity and health protective behaviours. For girls, condom use was predicted by belonging to a non-Traveller community, healthy food consumption, higher quality of life and being bullied, whereas taking medication for physical and psychological symptoms was associated with non-condom use.ConclusionsThese nationally representative research findings highlight the importance of focusing on young people as a distinct population subgroup with unique influences on their sexual health requiring targeted interventions and policy.

Project description:IntroductionStudies of adolescent mental health require valid measures that are supported by evidence-based theories. An established theory is the dual-factor model, which argues that mental health status is only fully understood by incorporating information on both subjective well-being and psychopathology.ObjectivesTo develop a novel measure of adolescent mental health based on the dual-factor model and test its construct validity.DesignCross-sectional analysis of national health survey data.Setting and participantsNationally weighted sample of 21 993 grade 6-10 students; average age: 14.0 (SD 1.4) years from the 2014 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study.MeasuresSelf-report indicators of subjective well-being (life satisfaction, positive and negative affect), and psychopathology (psychological symptoms and overt risk-taking behaviour) were incorporated into the dual-factor measure. Characteristics of adolescents families, specific mental health indicators and measures of academic and social functioning were used in the assessment of construct validity.ResultsProportions of students categorised to the four mental health groups indicated by the dual-factor measure were 67.6% 'mentally healthy', 17.5% 'symptomatic yet content', 5.5% 'asymptomatic yet discontent' and 9.4% 'mentally unhealthy'. Being mentally healthy was associated with the highest functioning (greater social support and academic functioning) and being mentally unhealthy was associated with the worst. A one-unit increase (ranges=0-10) in peer support (OR 1.19; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.22), family support (OR 1.32; 95% CI 1.28 to 1.36), student support (OR 1.20; 95% CI 1.17 to 1.24) and average school marks (OR 1.18; 95% CI 1.10 to 1.27) increased the odds of being symptomatic yet content versus mentally unhealthy. Mentally healthy youth were the most likely to live with both parents (77% vs ≤65%) and report their family as well-off (62% vs ≤53%).ConclusionsWe developed a novel, construct valid dual-factor measure of adolescent mental health. This potentially provides a nuanced and comprehensive approach to the assessment of adolescent mental health that is direly needed.

Project description:BackgroundYouth who go hungry have poorer mental health than their counterparts - there are gender differences in this relationship. This study investigated the role of social support in the association between hunger and mental health among a nationally representative sample of youth in Canada in gender-specific analyses.MethodsWe used a probability-based sample of 21,750 youth in grades 6-10 who participated in the 2017-2018 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children. Self-report data were gathered on hunger, mental health (measured via the World Health Organization-5 well-being index) and five sources of support - peer, family and teacher support as well as the school climate and neighborhood support. We conducted adjusted, gender-specific, multilevel regression analyses assessing the association between mental health, social support and hunger.ResultsWe found that youth who reported lower support were more likely to experience going to bed hungry (relative to never hungry) across all support factors. As for the social support factors, all the social support factors were associated with a higher mental health score, even after controlling for hunger. Despite these results our final set of models showed that our measures of social support did not alleviate the negative association between hunger and mental health. As for gender-specific findings, the negative association between hunger and a mental health was more pronounced among females relative to their male counterparts. We also found that certain social support factors (i.e., family, teacher and neighborhood support) were associated with a higher mental health score among females relative to males while controlling for hunger status.ConclusionsWe find that five social support factors are associated with a higher mental health score among ever hungry youth; however, social support did not overpower the negative association between hunger and mental health. Food insecurity is a challenge to address holistically; however, hungry youth who have high social support have higher odds of better mental health.

Project description:IntroductionDespite the health benefits, a large proportion of girls and boys in Europe do not travel to school actively. A better understanding of the correlates associated with this behavior could guide interventions. This study examines perceived social and environmental correlates of active travel to school (ACTS) from the 2017/18 Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey in four European countries, with a special emphasis on gender differences (n = 22,023).MethodsLogistic regression was conducted to analyze associations between the perceived importance of each correlate and ACTS behavior for 11-, 13-, and 15-year-old girls and boys from Germany, Czechia, Poland, and Slovakia. All models were adjusted for age, family affluence, and meeting World Health Organization recommendations for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.ResultsRates of ACTS significantly differed between girls and boys. In Czechia, 65% of girls and boys traveled to school actively, followed by Slovakia (61.4% girls and 58.4% boys), Poland (57.7% girls and 60.2% boys), and Germany (42.6% girls and 48.6% boys). Girls were less likely to actively travel to school compared to boys (odds ratio [OR]: 0.92, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.87-0.97). Increasing age (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.93-0.97) and a greater distance to school index (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.88-0.90) were both negatively associated with ACTS. The perceived importance of living closer to school and of road and neighborhood safety was positively associated with ACTS, with a stronger association in boys than in girls for neighborhood safety. On the contrary, the perceived importance of having people to walk with was negatively associated with ACTS, with a stronger association in girls (OR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.65-0.84) than in boys (OR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.66-0.88).DiscussionThis study provides insights into perceived social and environmental correlates associated with ACTS behavior. Future research should include gender-specific perceptions and more in-depth investigations of correlates encouraging ACTS, especially considering social aspects, safety issues, and the structuring of the environment in different cultural settings.

Dataset Information

Individual and social determinants of early sexual activity: A study of gender-based differences using the 2018 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC).

Publications

Individual and social determinants of early sexual activity: A study of gender-based differences using the 2018 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC).

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