Table.
Factors and circumstances reported to be associated with regret of first sexual intercourse by sex (from total sample of 7395)
| Male
|
Female
|
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total No who had had intercourse | No (%) who said “too soon” | No (%) who said “should not have happened” | Univariate ordinal regression (df; P value) | Total No who had had intercourse | No (%) who said “too soon” | No (%) who said “should not have happened” | Univariate ordinal regression (df; P value) | ||
| All | 647 | 174 (27) | 33 (5) | 569 | 180 (32) | 71 (13) | |||
| Parental monitoring score:* | |||||||||
| 0-4 | 251 | 60 (24) | 10 (4) | 1; 0.11‡ | 147 | 46 (31) | 16 (11) | 1; 0.023‡ | |
| 5 to 8 | 310 | 95 (31) | 13 (4) | 278 | 84 (30) | 32 (12) | |||
| 9 to 12 | 86 | 19 (22) | 10 (12) | 144 | 50 (35) | 23 (16) | |||
| Religious belief: | |||||||||
| Religious or very religious: | 46 | 13 (28) | 2 (4) | 1; 0.085‡ | 33 | 10 (30) | 7 (21) | 1; 0.042‡ | |
| Unsure | 95 | 33 (35) | 3 (3) | 120 | 46 (38) | 13 (11) | |||
| Not religious | 147 | 40 (27) | 16 (11) | 157 | 51 (33) | 21 (13) | |||
| Not at all religious | 340 | 84 (25) | 12 (4) | 252 | 71 (28) | 29 (12) | |||
| Pressure: | |||||||||
| From boy | 76 | 27 (36) | 5 (7) | 1; 0.043† | 112 | 43 (38) | 34 (30) | 1; <0.0001† | |
| From girl | 42 | 13 (31) | 3 (7) | 1; 0.27† | 11 | 5 (46) | 3 (27) | 1; 0.0091† | |
| No pressure | 508 | 128 (25) | 25 (5) | 438 | 127 (29) | 34 (8) | |||
| Expectation of sexual intercourse: | |||||||||
| Expected | 186 | 57 (31) | 6 (3) | 1; 0.63† | 182 | 68 (37) | 16 (9) | 1; 0.15† | |
| Planned together | 70 | 20 (29) | 3 (4) | 1; 0.81† | 87 | 15 (17) | 4 (5) | 1; <0.0001† | |
| Unexpected | 275 | 74 (27) | 12 (4) | 239 | 83 (35) | 38 (16) | |||
| First sexual intercourse experienced with boyfriend or girlfriend: | |||||||||
| With boyfriend or girlfriend | 439 | 120 (27) | 21 (5) | 1; 0.99 | 377 | 124 (33) | 28 (7) | 1; <0.0001 | |
| Not with boyfriend or girlfriend | 208 | 54 (26) | 12 (6) | 192 | 56 (29) | 43 (22) | |||
| “Drunk or stoned” at first sexual intercourse: | |||||||||
| Yes | 259 | 62 (24) | 16 (6) | 1; 0.53 | 226 | 76 (34) | 38 (17) | 1; 0.0057 | |
| No | 372 | 109 (29) | 15 (4) | 334 | 102 (31) | 32 (10) | |||
| Talked about contraception with partner before first sexual intercourse: | |||||||||
| Yes | 227 | 67 (30) | 7 (3) | 2; 0.12 | 252 | 72 (29) | 22 (9) | 2; 0.0049 | |
| No | 208 | 49 (24) | 8 (4) | 183 | 56 (31) | 35 (19) | |||
| Cannot remember | 212 | 58 (27) | 18 (9) | 134 | 52 (39) | 14 (10) | |||
Analysis shown in this table does not include data for 14 boys and 7 girls who did not answer the question on regret.
Data were missing for some categories (religious belief, pressure, expectation of social intercourse, “drunk or stoned” at first intercourse) for both girls and boys.
Social class of father, social class of mother, family composition, and using a condom during sexual intercourse did not show any significant association with regret (P>0.05).
Adapted from a scale designed by the Department of Child Health, University of Exeter (0=low level of parental monitoring, 12=high level).
Compared with the final category.
Linear trend.