Trends in Premarital Sexual Experience of Young Adult Women in Paraguay, 1987-2004

Leo Morris, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Mercedes Melian, Paraguay Center for Population Studies (CEPEP)
Ndola Prata, University of California, Berkeley
Cynthia Prieto, Paraguay Center for Population Studies (CEPEP)

Four reproductive health surveys over a 19 year period from 1987 to 2004 provide the longest series of trend data for sexual experience and use of contraception for adolescents and young adults in Latin America. All four surveys were probability household based surveys with face to face interviews using the same sampling methodology and young adult modules. The proportion of sexually experienced young adults (15-14 years of age)had a significant increase in premarital sexual experience from 35% in 1987 to 54% in 2004. The proportion of young women (or their partner)using contraception at their first sexual experience increased by almost 10 percentage points in the first three surveys between 1987 and 1998. In the 6-year period between 1998 and 2004, contraceptive use increased by more than 20 percentage points, from 33%in 1998 to 58% in 2004.Multivariate analysis to study determinats of first sexual experience and use of contraception will be presented.