Behavioral Factors of Reproductive Health in Russians

Abstract

Introduction: Today, demographic issues are in the focus of attention in a whole number of countries. Birth rate is one of the most important indicators largely dependent on the level of reproductive health of the population. Patterns of health and sexual behavior, including the use of contraception, are among the significant direct factors of reproductive health. Objective: To analyze health and sexual (contraceptive) behavior as determinants of reproductive health in Russians. Materials and methods: This is the secondary analysis of responses of the formalized surveys conducted by the Analytical Center “National Agency for Financial Research” in 2024 involving 3,000 respondents, by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center in 2023 involving 1,845 respondents, and by the “Mikhailov and Partners. Analytics” Agency in 2021 covering 2,005 people, all devoted to issues of reproductive and sexual health and behavior. SPSS Statistics and Microsoft Excel were used for data analysis. Results: The Russians consider sexually transmitted diseases to be the main risk factor for reproductive health, so they pay more attention to practicing safe sex than to being able to conceive and bear a child (8.64 versus 6.43 out of 10). Barrier (condoms) and calendar methods of birth control are popular with 65 % and 26 % of the respondents, respectively, while 21 % of the respondents do not use contraceptives. Less than 35 % examine their reproductive health annually. Only 38 % of the respondents are ready to use assisted reproductive technologies to overcome infertility. Conclusions: Reproductive health of Russian people is at risk because of low efficiency of contraceptive behavior noted for predominance of the rhythm method of birth control and refusal of contraceptives due to misinformation about their side effects and low health activity in the field of reproduction and sex, including a lack of interest in assisted reproductive technologies.