Patterns of sexual experience among an urban sample of Latino and African-American 9th grade students

Purpose: Oral, vaginal and anal sex are discrete behaviors that pose varying degrees of STD and/or pregnancy risk. Considering these behaviors separately has resulted in a splintered picture of adolescents' sexual risk. It is important to understand the co-occurrence of these behaviors to better inform prevention efforts. We sought to identify patterns of sexual experience among 9th grade students, the order in which behaviors were initiated, and to explore associated factors. Methods: 371 students from 10 public high schools in Southern California who reported any sexual experience on an in-class survey comprised the sample. Measures included demographics, sexual behaviors, and attitude, belief and knowledge scales. Results: Experience with vaginal sex and oral sex were most common (77.4% and 67.9%, respectively) while fewer (22.1%) reported anal sex. Forty percent (40.0%) reported both oral and vaginal sex; 24.9% reported only vaginal, 15.3% reported all three, and 12.6% reported only oral sex. Males were more likely than females to be in the group reporting all three behaviors. Of those who engaged in both oral and vaginal sex, 44.5% engaged in vaginal first, 30.8% engaged in oral first, and 24.6% reported they happened on the same day. Few correlations between behavioral patterns and other factors were observed. Conclusions: In this sample, vaginal sex tended to occur first, and was reported by the greatest percentage of students. Oral and anal sex tended to co-occur with, but did not necessarily replace, vaginal sex. Dichotomous measures of sexual behaviors are insufficient to fully characterize adolescent sexual risk.