FACTORS RELATED TO CHOOSING ORAL CONTRACEPTION AT AGE 15

This report aims to identify factors which are related to use of oral contraceptives at an early age, A self-administered questionnaire was completed at schools in 1988 and 1992 in southern and western Finland (N = 1339). Sexually experienced girls (mean age 15.8 years) who had a nswered the question concerning their oral contraceptive use were incl uded (N = 389), Logistic regression analysis was used to compare oral contraceptive users (N = 121) with the group of non-users, Total numbe r of coital experiences was associated with oral contraceptive use: th e odds ratio for those having at least 10 coital experiences was 6.30 compared with those with only one intercourse, The proportion was 73% among oral contraceptive users and 30% among non-users. Girls using or al contraceptives perceived more often (67%) that parents accept their sexual relationship (30% among non-users), Oral contraceptive users w ere less afraid of getting pregnant (9% compared with 31% among non-us ers) and felt more often that sex was very important in their life (31 and 13%, respectively), Other factors that entered the model were age at menarche, having a steady partner and frequency of disco visits, W hen a young girl asks for oral contraceptives, she is probably at true risk of pregnancy, and regular contraception should be considered bot h in view of effective prevention of pregnancies and sexually transmit ted diseases.