WEEKLY AND SEASONAL-VARIATION IN SEXUAL BEHAVIORS AMONG ADOLESCENT WOMEN WITH SEXUALLY-TRANSMITTED DISEASES

Purpose: The objective of this research is to describe aspects of the organization of adolescent sexual behavior in order to understand fact ors associated with risk for sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Meth ods: Subjects were 82 females (ages 16-19 years; 77% African-American) participating in a larger STD study. Subjects completed diaries for e ach coital event, recording date of event, partner initials, condom us e, and use of drugs or alcohol before intercourse. Partner change was defined as any event for which the sex partner initials differed from those listed for the most recent previous coital event. Results: The 8 2 subjects recorded 1265 coital events; the average span of the record s was 10 weeks. Intercourse was least likely on Sundays (154 of 1265; 12.2%) and most common on Friday and Saturday (221 of 1265 for each da y; 17.5%). The proportion of coital events associated with drugs or al cohol increased from Sunday to Saturday, although the proportion of co ital events in which a condom was used did not vary significantly. Int ercourse was most common in spring and summer, and least frequent in w inter. Conclusions: These data indicate substantial temporal organizat ion of adolescent sexual behaviors that may be related to risk of sexu ally transmitted diseases. Some STD-preventive interventions may be mo st effective when targeted to higher risk times. (C) Society for Adole scent Medicine, 1997.