Sexual behaviour and contraception in people under the age of 20 in Alicante, Spain.

Objective To describe and to analyse the relationship between patterns of sexually-risky behaviour and emergency contraception among young females attending a Family Planning Centre (FPC).Methods Data was obtained from a systematic analysis of 384 health records.Results Mean age of the sample subjects was 18.24 years (SD 1.47, range 13–20). Of these, 92% were single, 60% students and 83% were with the same partner. Age at first intercourse was 16.5 years (SD 1.52, range 11–20). Those who used condoms systematically totalled 72%. Mean number of sexual partners was 1.85 (SD 2.91, range 1–50). A total of 9% had become pregnant and 2% had had an abortion. Emergency contraception was resorted to by 26% of the young women on at least one occasion. Emergency contraception was related to younger age at first sexual intercourse (p < 0.001) and to a great number of partners (p = 0.011). Of the total number of subjects, 48.4% demonstrated sexually-risky behaviour. This behaviour was related to alcohol consumption (p...