Sexual and reproductive health in Spanish University Students. A comparison between medical and law students

Abstract Objective To describe behaviors and knowledge related to sexual and reproductive health of Spanish university students and their association with the subject area studied (biomedical or not). Methods A descriptive cross-sectional observational study conducted with 2074 students aged 18–24 years from the University Complutense of Madrid in the Faculties of Medicine and Law. Simple random stratified sampling without replacement was performed. A self-administered, anonymous and voluntary questionnaire was distributed. It was based on the Youth Risk Health Behavior Survey and assessed behavior and knowledge in three areas: sex, contraceptive methods (CM) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Results In total, 83.5% of respondents had had sexual intercourse, from a mean age of 16.8 years and with a mean of 3.4 sexual partners. Compared with the law students (LS), fewer medical students (MS) were sexually active, they had a later age of sexual initiation and they had had fewer sexual partners (p  Conclusions The behavior and knowledge of medical students in relation to sexual and reproductive health differed from those of law students.