Federal government websites often end in. The site is secure. Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October Learn More or Try it out now. To assess the prevalence and dynamics of risky sexual behaviors among Croatian emerging adults in the period. The and studies were conducted with face-to-face interviews on stratified probabilistic samples.
The study was conducted by computer-assisted web-interviewing on a quota-based random sample from the largest national online panel. Compared with and , the age at coital debut increased for both genders in by a median of one year, to 18 years, and by a mean of half a year, to Risky sexual behaviors decreased in the survey compared with the previous two waves, in both genders.
Nonetheless, sexual risk-taking is still frequent among young Croatian adults. The introduction of sexuality education and other national-level public health interventions to reduce sexual risk-taking thus remains a public health imperative. Sexual risk-taking refers to behaviors that can adversely affect reproductive, sexual, and psychological health, leading to sexually transmitted infections STI , sexual victimization, unwanted pregnancies, and reduced well-being.
Risky sexual behaviors typically include coital debut at an early age, unprotected sexual activities, having multiple sexual partners, and engaging in concurrent sexual relationships 1 - 3.
Early sexual debut and having multiple partners are consistently associated with unprotected sex and an increased risk of acquiring an STI 4 - 7. Globally, the highest age-specific prevalence of risky sexual behavior is found in adolescents and emerging adults, with condomless sexual intercourse ranking second among health-related mortality risks in young women and men 8.
