Original ArticleGender Differences in Partner Influences and Barriers to Condom Use Among Heterosexual Adolescents Attending a Public Sexually Transmitted Infection Clinic in Singapore
Section snippets
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional study on never-married sexually active heterosexual adolescents attending the Department of STI Control clinic, which is the only public STI clinic in Singapore. About 80% of adolescents with reportable STIs attend this clinic. Study participants were new clinic patients who were never-married Singapore residents 14-19 years of age and whose most recent sexual encounter was consensual heterosexual intercourse. Sex was defined as: (1) the penis entering the vagina;
Results
The response rate was 85.2% (n = 964). Nonrespondents did not differ in mean age (P = .117), race (P = .374), or gender (P = .332) from respondents. About one-half of the (54% of male respondents and 49% of female respondents) study participants were diagnosed with a laboratory-confirmed STI. Both genders reported first sex as early as 10 years of age (Table I). Female respondents reported fewer types of partners with almost all their partners being boyfriends. In contrast, male respondents
Discussion
A marked difference in condom use by partner type was found among male adolescents, who were 11 times more likely to use condoms with commercial sex workers than with regular and casual sex partners. This association could not be assessed among female adolescents, because almost none of them reported having male sex workers or paying clients as partners. The higher condom use with sex workers among the male respondents could be because almost all of their sex worker partners, compared with less
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Cited by (8)
An Abstinence and Safer Sex Intervention for Adolescents Attending the Public Sexually Transmitted Infection Clinic in Singapore
2018, Journal of Adolescent HealthCitation Excerpt :We randomized the days of clinic operation [24], with participants attending the clinic on the same day being allocated to the same study group to reduce contamination bias. This behavioral intervention was based on the Green PRECEDE-PROCEED framework [25], the Bandura self-efficacy theory and [26] findings from local studies on premarital intercourse [27], and condom use [28]. The behavioral intervention consisted of three on-site individual counseling sessions1 and two online sessions delivered over 8 months (Supplementary Figure S1, which can be found in the online version of this article).
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Funded by National Medical Research Council (Singapore), which was not involved in: (1) study design; (2) the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; (3) the writing of the report; and (4) the decision to submit the article for publication. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.