Links between premarital sexual behaviour and extramarital intercourse: a multi-site analysis

Objectives: Data from Cote d'Ivoire, Tanzania, Lusaka and Thailand were use d to explore the relationship between premarital and extramarital sexual ac tivity in men. Design: Analysis was performed on data collected in the Global Programme on AIDS/WHO programme of stratified probability sample surveys of sexual beha viour of men and women aged 15 to at least 49 years interviewed face to fac e in 1989/1990. This analysis was restricted to male respondents currently married or in a regular partnership for at least a year. Methods: Predictors of extramarital intercourse (EMI) in the preceding year were assessed using crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR), and 95% confidenc e intervals were calculated for a set of behavioural and sociodemographic v ariables that were believed a priori to be associated with EMI. Results: Bivariate analysis showed that younger age at sexual debut, marria ge to someone other than the debut partner and a higher number of sex partn ers before first marriage were significantly associated with enhanced proba bility of EMI in the past year in all sites. The adjusted OR indicated that in Cote d'Ivoire and Tanzania the age at debut and in Tanzania and Thailan d the number of sex partners before marriage were significantly associated with EMI in the past year. Conclusion: Characteristics of premarital conduct such as age at sexual deb ut, length of acquaintance with debut partner and number of premarital part ners were significantly associated with EMI in men later in life. This cont inuity in sexual conduct over the life course was open to several competing interpretations, but sexual socialization in adolescence was likely to be at least a contributory factor. (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.