Zbigniew Izdebski

Prevalence and correlates of young people's sexual aggression perpetration and victimisation in 10 European countries: a multi-level analysis

Data are presented on young peoples sexual victimisation and perpetration from 10 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain) using a shared measurement tool (N = 3480 participants, aged between 18 and 27 years). Between 19.7 and 52.2% of female and between 10.1 and 55.8% of male respondents reported having experienced at least one incident of sexual victimisation since the age of consent. In two countries, victimisation rates were significantly higher for men than for women. Between 5.5 and 48.7% of male and 2.6 and 14.8% of female participants reported having engaged in a least one act of sexual aggression perpetration, with higher rates for men than for women in all countries. Victimisation rates correlated negatively with sexual assertiveness and positively with alcohol use in sexual encounters. Perpetration rates correlated positively with attitudes condoning physical dating violence and with alcohol use in men, and negatively with sexual assertiveness in women. At the country level, lower gender equality in economic power and in the work domain was related to higher male perpetration rates. Lower gender equality in political power and higher sexual assertiveness in women relative to men were linked to higher male victimisation rates.

Społeczno-demograficzne i rodzinne uwarunkowania pierwszych doświadczeń seksualnych i inicjacji seksualnej młodzieży

The study analyses the relationship of selected socio-demographic characteristics of adolescents (gender, place of residence, type of school) and selected characteristics of their families (education of parents, family wealth, support and communication) with their pre-initiation sexual experiences and sexual initiation. The results of a research carried out on a sample of 1,266 second- and third-class students of post-secondary schools have been analysed. The survey used an auditorium questionnaire. It has been shown that: three-fifths of the respondents had sexual experiences, of whom two-fifths already had sexual intercourse; girls were less likely than boys to have had sexual initiation, but more often than they got involved into pre-initiation forms of sexual activity; people who had a sexual initiation got involved into early forms of sexual activity earlier than those who didn’t have it yet. Factors that differentiate young people’s sexual behaviour have also included: the type of school, family support and material resources of the family. It has been established that in the case of boys, the risk factor for early sexual initiation is low family support and high level of affluence, while the protective factor is attendance at general secondary school or technical secondary school, and in the girls’ group, the protective factor is attendance at general secondary school, while the risk factor is living in a large city.

Plany prokreacyjne i stosowanie antykoncepcji przez Polaków w wieku reprodukcyjnym

The paper attempts to show the relationship between reproductive plans of Poles in reproductive age and their use of methods of preventing pregnancy. There has been carried out a reinterpretation of the results of a sexuality study from 2011 of a representative sample of 3206 adult Poles. There have also been used some of the results obtained in the previous edition of the survey, realised in 2005. It has been established, among other things, that almost half of the respondents plan to have another child in the future; the reproductive plans of the respondents have been differed by many socio-demographic variables as well as variables describing being in a relationship and sexual activity of the respondents; nearly three quarters of respondents who started a regular sex life used some method of contraception; there has been a favourable change in the use of methods of preventing pregnancy – hormonal medicines and condoms are used more frequently; unreliable methods (natural methods and coitus interruptus) are still relatively frequently used; there has been a radical reduction in concerns about unplanned procreation.

Zdrowie seksualne i reprodukcyjne młodzieży

The authors of the article discuss the terms of sexual health, reproductive health and sexual rights with reference to young people. They describe the health problems connected with psychosexual adolescence. Then the authors, on the base of their own research, present risky (anti-health) sexual behaviors of young people both in the real world and in the Internet as well as the consequences such as sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. The authors emphasize importance of support from professionals, especially doctors, for young people in solving problems connected with their sexual and reproductive health.