Age at first sex and adult mental health in Nicaragua

Adding up risks: Sexual debut and substance use among Italian university students

“…Early unintended pregnancieswhich affect mainly young females' life coursemay have, for example, numerous social consequences, including compromised economic prospects due to out-of-wedlock childbearing and adolescent parenting. More generally, as suggested by the life course approach (Elder 1995), sexual behaviours during adolescence may affect the cognitive, physical and emotional development that occurs afterwards (Dixon-Mueller 2008;Hays and Schmeer 2020), as well as the formation of attitudes, expectations and intentions, with an impact both on subsequent relationships and on sexual and contraceptive behaviour. Early unintended pregnancies are associated, for example, with subsequent unintended pregnancies (Guzzo and Hayford 2011), thus suggesting inconsistent contraception in either ongoing or new relationships, too.…”