[Rates of early sexual intercourse among socio-economically disadvantaged adolescents]

During January-June 1991 765 13-year-old male French-Canadian students from low-income households attending 53 Catholic schools in Montreal completed a questionnaire on their sexual behavior. 11.3% (87) had already had sexual intercourse. The earliest age at first intercourse was 4 years old for 1 boy who was sexually abused. Two boys first had sexual intercourse at 8 years old and another 2 at 9 years old. 44.2% of boys who had had sexual intercourse experienced their first intercourse at age 12. 89.3% of the 87 sexually active boys knew their first sexual partner for at least several months. 89.6% including the boy sexually abused at age 4 claimed that they were in love with their first sexual partner. 60.8% had sexual intercourse fewer than 3 times during the last 6 months. 52.8% had sexual intercourse fewer than 4 times in their life. 63.2% knew 1-2 of their sexual partners in the last 6 months. Among the non-sexually active 13-year-old boys 54.3% thought the ideal age for first intercourse was between age 13 and 18. 64.6% of their mothers thought the ideal age was between age 14 and 18. 61.8% of the non-sexually active boys who were either dating or had dated a girl intended to have sexual intercourse soon. 31.4% of the non-sexually active boys who were neither dating nor had ever dated a girl intended to have sexual intercourse soon. These findings support the literature on early premarital sexual behavior among male teenagers. They suggest the need for future research on young male teenagers to better understand the antecedents components and the consequences of the bio-psycho-social process leading to early sexual activity during adolescence.