A cross-sectional study to assess the pre-marital sexual practices among Panjab University students, Chandigarh,...

In India, premarital partnerships whether involving sex or not are widely unacceptable. Various studies in India have reported heightened premarital sexual activities among youngsters.

The objective of the study was to assess the involvement of youth in premarital sexual practices studying at Panjab University.

The cross-sectional study was conducted at Panjab University situated in Chandigarh, India between February and August 2020. Purposive sampling was used to recruit students. Data was collected using a pre-tested, semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire. The nature of the data was quantitative and was analyzed through SPSS version 20.

A total of 211 (female/male: 51.7%/48.3%, mean age: 22.5 years) respondents were enrolled. Prevalence of premarital sex was 68.7% with an average age of sexual debut 18.5 years. 62.1% of respondents were practicing unprotected sex. 91% of respondents were involved in vaginal sex, 61.4% in oral sex, 29% in online sex, and 19.3% in anal sex. 66.8% of respondents were involved in the habit of masturbation. In students having a positive premarital sexual background, 78.2% of respondents had sexting, 38.8% had friends with benefits, 33.9% had one-night stands, 4.8% had a threesome and 2.3% had gay sex. Out of all the respondents involved in premarital sexual practices, 86.9% were satisfied with sexual life.

There is a need to empower the younger population involved in risky sexual behavior by accelerating their sexual and reproductive rights education to propagate safe sexual behavior in premarital sexual practices.