Collegium antropologicum
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Collegium antropologicum · Dec 2006
Patterns of sexual behaviour and reported symptoms of STI/RTIs among young people in Croatia--implications for interventions' planning.
This paper describes some of the results of the first national-level survey on sexual behaviour and the distribution of risks to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV), among youth in Croatia, and the nature and the extent of their vulnerability to these adverse health outcomes. The study was a cross-sectional, probability-based household survey conducted in 2005, and included 1093 respondents aged 18-24. This paper aims to describe the findings related to the knowledge of HIV transmission, key behavioural outcomes relevant for potential transmission of HIV and STIs, and correlates of genital discharge in young men and young women. ⋯ In the multivariate analysis, the lack of knowledge of whether chlamydial infections is an STI and having more than five partners in life were correlates of genital discharge in men, while in women the correlates included having more than five partners in life and not using condoms during the first sexual intercourse. Higher burden of STI-related symptoms was found among men who have men as sexual partners, those who paid for sex, and those with concurrent partnerships. These findings point out to the immediate need to strengthen sexual health education among young people and to the necessity for further development of other broad-based interventions to prevent adverse sexual health outcomes among both men and women, as well as those targeted towards more vulnerable subgroups.