title: Adolescent Sexual Debut and Initiation into New-Type Drug Use among a Sample of Young Adults.
abstract: We examined the association between adolescent sexual debut and age at new-type drug initiation among a sample of young adult new-type drug users. A total of 276 participants were recruited using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) in Shanghai, China. The analyses were restricted to a total of 201 participants aged between 18 and 30 years. The average age at sexual debut and age at first new-type drug use were 18.8 and 20.9 years, respectively. About 94% of participants reported having sexual experience (n=188); of those, 137 (72.9%) had sexual debut before they first used new-type drugs, while 32 (17.0%) initiated both events at the same age. After adjustment for age, income, education, and sexual orientation, adolescent sexual debut was independently associated with younger age at new-type drug initiation. Adolescent sexual debut is associated with early onset of new-type drug use. Our findings underscore the importance of implementing sex-education programs for adolescents in schools in China.
authors.affiliation: a Lecturer, Department of Epidemiology , School of Public Health, and The Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of Ministry of Education, Fudan University , Shanghai , China.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Detels
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002681:China; D055030:Drug Users / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D008297:Male; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs
keywords: China; adolescent; initiation; new-type drugs; sexual debut