Sexual coercion among youth and young adults in Lima, Peru

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: To determine the prevalence and correlates of sexual coercion in young adults in Lima, Peru. Methods: Lifetime sexual coercion and that at first sexual experience were studied in 629 sexually active young people, drawn from representative samples of 611 adolescents and 607 young adults. Results: Almost half of the young women and a quarter of the young men in the study reported sexual coercion. In multiple logistic regression analyses, men and women who reported having been coerced at heterosexual initiation also reported more lifetime sexually transmitted diseases and a lower age at first sex than those not reporting coercion. Men who reported coercion at heterosexual initiation also reported a lower number of lifetime heterosexual partners and less sexual knowledge than men not coerced. Conclusion: Experiencing heterosexual initiation as coercive appears to be a marker for a riskier sexual career for both genders and for future homosexual behavior in men.