Sexo e sexualidade na adolescência: análise do acesso à informação e exposição a riscos

Abstract

The advancement of research on sex and sexuality among adolescents has evidenced the vulnerability of this public to health risk behaviors. It is known that the experience of sexuality is intertwined with a set of individual and contextual factors, but greater emphasis is still given to issues related to the adolescent himself. Thus, it is important to understand the risk and protection factors related to sexual initiation in adolescence, integrating the main systems in which young people are inserted, such as family and school. With this research focus, two studies were developed, based on data from 253 adolescents from the 6th to the 9th year of primary education at two schools in São Leopoldo and four from Porto Alegre, who answered a Questionnaire on Socio-demographic Data and Sexual Behaviors, Family Support Perception Inventory (IPSF) and also participated in focus groups (n = 24). The first study, entitled "Individual and contextual factors associated with sexual initiation among adolescents", with an analytical observational design, sought to investigate the association between sexual initiation in adolescence and individual factors (sex, age, schooling, history of school failure, religion and use of legal and illicit drugs) and contextual (family configuration, family support, socioeconomic level of the family, parental schooling and access to information about sex and sexuality). In addition, among adolescents who had already had sex, we sought to examine the association between individual and contextual factors with early sexual initiation (prior to age 15) and inconsistent use of condoms. Descriptive statistical analyzes and inferences indicated that the first sexual experiences of the young have occurred along with other behaviors detrimental to their development, mainly referring to the use of alcohol and low school performance. These factors also seem to be related to the levels of autonomy and affectivity that adolescents perceive from their families, since higher levels of affective-consistent perception have shown to be a protective factor and greater autonomy as a factor of sexual risk. The second study, with a sequential explanatory design, called "Access and quality of information received on sex and sexuality in the adolescent perspective", aimed to deepen the understanding about access and quality of information about sex and sexuality in family and school contexts in the perspective of adolescents. The data were analyzed statistically and by thematic analysis, highlighting two themes: sources and limits of access to information about sex and sexuality and communication bias. The results indicated that adolescents have been exposed to sexual risks, especially due to inconsistent condom use, even if they report access to preventive information. The family environment was identified as the main reference context for sex education, however, adolescents indicated that they would like to expand educational activities related to this topic in school. Also, reports of sexist and homophobic attitudes were highlighted in the contexts investigated. Together, the data denounces the need for greater attention to adolescent sexual education, not only in the preventive scope, but also through dialogues that include the diversity of themes and experiences in the sexual sphere, as well as the relevance of including social contexts in the analysis of sexual risk behaviors in adolescence.