Sexual behaviour of adolescent boys—a cause for concern

Abstract The present study was conducted to investigate the sexual behaviour and level of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases of unmarried adolescent boys from eight randomly selected villages of the Anand taluka in Gujarat. A house-to-house survey was carried out in the included villages and all unmarried adolescent boys who confessed a previous sexual experience (n = 178) were interviewed with the help of structured and pretested questionnaires. It was observed that the mean age at first coitus was 18.01 years and in over 87% of the cases a prostitute was the first sexual contact. Eighty-two boys (46%) had not heard about AIDS and 34% had no knowledge of other sexually transmitted diseases. Only nine boys had ever used a condom. The mean knowledge score about the correct use of condoms was 1.44 on a scale of 10 and it was found to be significantly associated with the economic status of the boy; the type of sexual partner and the educational status of the parents.