Socioeconomic characteristics influence attitudes towards sexuality in adolescents
Juliani da Silva Araújo Alves, Silvana Granado Nogueira da Gama, María Carmen Viana, Katrini Guidolini Martinelli, Edson Theodoro dos Santos Neto
Abstract
Backgroung: Attitudes Towards Sexuality in Adolescents (ATSA) are built according to the experiences and different social contexts. Objectives: to analyze attitudes towards sexuality itself, according to socioeconomic factors in adolescents aged. Methods: Cross-sectional school-based study was carried out with 2,292 adolescents enrolled in high school, in 54 schools, through interviews using the Attitudes Toward Sexuality in Adolescents (AFSA) instrument that has four dimensions, and measures the Permissiveness, Communion, Instrumentality and Sexual Practices. Then, the attitude of each adolescent was classified as: unfavorable, indifferent and favorable. Pearson’s Chi-square test and Multinomial Logistic Regression were used in statistical analyses. Results: It was verified that the majority of the adolescents presented unfavorable AFSA, being these behaviors directly associated to: age of 15/16 and 17 years (OR=0.59; OR=0.47); lower secondary education (OR=2.03); adolescent’s head of family having low education (OR=2.00); to live with the partner (OR=2.77); race / color black (OR=2.04) and brown (OR=1.88); and lower family income (OR=2.50). Conclusion: Adolescents with lower socioeconomic status are more likely to have unfavorable attitudes towards their own sexuality.