Sexual risk behaviors increasing among adolescents over time: comparison of two cohorts in Spain

Abstract

Despite advances in treatment and prevention, HIV/AIDS remains a serious health and social problem. This study's objective is to examine sexual behavior, levels of knowledge, and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS between two cohorts in Spanish adolescents, and to analyze gender differences in these cohorts. Participants were 2132 adolescents between 15 and 18 years of age: 1222 in 2006 (43.2% boys) and 910 in 2012 (54.1% boys). The results indicate lower HIV knowledge and less favorable attitudes about HIV/AIDS in the 2012 cohort. In addition, adolescents from the 2012 cohort had their first sexual intercourse at an earlier age and have more sexual partners than those from the 2006 cohort. Compared to boys, girls engage in fewer risky behaviors, although they did not use condoms with their stable partner; girls tended to use condom less when they were in a stable relationship than boys. This study confirms the insufficiency of prevention campaigns as well as the need to improve the impact from programs that promote healthy sexual habits. Assuming comparability of cohorts, this study suggests increased risk of HIV/AIDS over time.

Evaluation of Strategies for the Prevention of HIV and STIs in Spanish Adolescents

“…These data show a similar knowledge to other recent studies, in which it is noted that it is necessary to improve the knowledge of the adolescents in this matter, because it is not knowledge high [4,12,13,17]. It is to be noted that the results obtained approximately three quarters of the adolescent population is unaware of the mechanisms of transmission of HIV, and more or less half of them are unaware of the effective contraceptive methods to prevent the transmission of STIs.…”

Conocimiento y fuentes de información sobre las ITS/VIH, comunicación sobre sexo y actitud hacia el uso del preservativo en adolescentes y padres/madres salvadoreños

“…Es más, el tema sobre el conocimiento de las ITS/VIH no es solo problemático en El Salvador pues en otras Tabla 3. Fuentes de información sobre la prevención del VIH en función del nivel de conocimiento sobre la prevención y la transmisión de las ITS/VIH en la muestra de adolescentes regiones del continente europeo (por ejemplo, España y Portugal) se aprecia una tendencia decreciente en el nivel de conocimientos sobre las ITS/VIH en adolescentes, que pone de manifiesto que las campañas de prevención resultan insuficientes y/o inadecuadas (Espada, Escribano, Orgilés, Morales & Guillén-Riquelme, 2015;Ramiro, Reis, de Matos, & Diniz, 2014).…”

Structural Equation Modeling Test of an Integrated Model of Spanish Youth’s Condom Use

“…It seems logical to think that there is greater probability of steady relationships; therefore people could use other contraceptives methods that do not prevent STIs. Different studies in Spain suggest the existence of the phenomenon called monogamy not protective [2][3][4][5]. They reported about negative beliefs that arise when using a condom with a steady partner (e.g., mistrustfulness, lack of love for the other person).…”

“…The unprotected sex put at risk for HIV infection, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancy [2][3][4][5]. Furthermore, safe sexual behavior (for example, abstinence, consistent condom use or mutual monogamy with an HIV-negative partner) is the only way to prevent sexual transmission of HIV and STIs.…”