Unemployment and sexual risk-taking among adolescents

Sexual risk-taking can lead to serious consequences. This study addressed the question of how sexual risk-taking was influenced by unemployment. A cohort of 1060 adolescents were followed from their last term in compulsory school and five years ahead until the age of 21. Sexual risk-taking, defined as unprotected intercourse without wishing to conceive, was studied with the help of a questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the period. For men there was a positive correlation between the length of unemployment and increase in risk-taking during the period, but for women there was a (statistically non-significant) negative correlation. In a logistic regression analysis, having children also had a significant effect on increased risk-taking among men. Unemployment thus implies increased sexual risk-taking among adolescent men.