Practice and attitudes towards contraception among adolescents
A. Kapamadzija, J. Vukelic, A. Bjelica, M. Pavlov Mirkovic
Department of Obstetric and Gynecology, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
& Montenegro
Objective: To study and analyze the attitudes and behavior of
high-school adolescents in the domain of contraception and sexuality, to get an
insight into the situation and guidelines for the state improvement.
Study design: High-school adolescents (682, 353 girls and 329 boys,
aged 14–19) from Novi Sad (Serbia & Montenegro) were subjected to an
anonymous poll using a questionnaire specially designed for this study.
Results: Sexual relations have had 36.6% of adolescents, more boys
(43.2%) than girls (30.6%). In average, first intercourse boys had at 16.0 and
girls at 16.5. Girls have had 1.7 sexual partners and boys 2.2 partners. Of the
sexually active 23.0% never used contraception, the others did it irregularly,
and condom was almost the only method. Undesired pregnancy and abortion have had
2.8% girls and sexually transmitted disease 3.2%. Almost all the polled
adolescents (93.0%) consider condom as most appropriate contraceptive means for
their age and only 4.0% girls and 2.5% boys prefer contraceptive pills. Girls
are more interested to know more about contraception, they think they know more
about it than boys do, their knowledge is objectively better, and they would
like to get additional knowledge in this domain. Adolescents of both sexes
consider that both sides should care of protection and say they feel uneasy to
carry contraceptive means with them, girls being more embarrassed when procuring
contraceptive means. The youngsters of both sexes are not certain whether the
methods of rhythm and withdrawal are reliable means of contraception. Knowledge
about sex are obtained from inappropriate sources (media, persons of the same
age, etc.) and there exist desire to get additional information from experts.
Conclusion: Sexually active adolescents do not practice sufficiently
contraception, and there exists prejudice towards oral contraception. It is
necessary to provide better education and organize more widely counseling ‘youth-friendly’
services.
