Age at First Sexual Intercourse and Multiple Sexual Partnership Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background

There is evidence that early sexual debut plays a key role in the sexual behaviours of individuals. This study examined the association between age at first sexual intercourse and multiple sexual partnership among adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods

Our study included twenty-two sub-Saharan African countries with data sourced from the Demographic and Health Survey (2015–2022). We included a weighted sample of 69,194 adolescent girls and young women in our study. We presented the results of the proportion of adolescent girls and young women who practiced multiple sexual partnerships using ‘spmap’ in Stata. We performed a multivariable binary logistic regression analysis to examine the association between age at first sex and multiple sexual partnerships, controlling for the covariates.

Results

Overall, only 4.63% of adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa engaged in multiple sexual partnerships. The hotspot countries for multiple sexual partnerships were Gabon (13.98%), Liberia (11.36%), Cameroon (7.84%), Cote d'Ivoire (7.59%), Kenya (7.33%), Tanzania (6.74%), and Sierra Leone (6.69%). Compared to young women whose age at first sex was 18 years and above, those who had their first sexual intercourse from 15 to 17 years and 14 years and below had higher odds of engaging in multiple sexual partnerships ([aOR=2.28; 95%CI: 1.96, 2.65] and [aOR=3.28; 95%CI: 2.76, 3.89]), respectively.

Conclusion

Our study has shown that age at first sex is a risk factor for multiple sexual partnerships. Consequently, it becomes imperative for sub-Saharan African countries to develop policies and implement programs aimed at discouraging early sexual debut. One practical approach to achieve this is through the widespread adoption of comprehensive sex education programs across sub-Saharan African countries.