OBJECTIVE: Investigate the relationship between drug consumption and sexual behavior in a population of high school students attending a public school in the city of São Paulo. METHOD: Questionnaires (a total of 689) were gathered from students with ages between 14 and 21 years old who responded to this study. The questionnaires contained questions about the consumption of psychoative substances and sexual behavior. Then, sexual behavior was compared for differences between drug users and non-users. RESULTS: Illicit drug users (n=366) demonstrated a higher prevalence of complete sexual intercourse: 80,8% of users versus 57,6% of non-users (n=305), p<0,0001); earlier initiation of sexual activity (on average 15,2 years in users versus 15,7 in non-users, p<0,005); more payments for sexual acts (31,1% of users versus 15% of non-users, p<0,001); and a trend toward lesser usage of condoms (56,8% of users versus 65,3% of non-users, p<0,10). The results also were similar when we studied each type of drug separately and the associaton of different types of drugs. CONCLUSIONS: Frequency of drug use was not related to sexual behavior. Alcohol and cannabis were the drugs most associated with sexual risk behavior. Crack use was associated with earlier initiation of sexual activity.
Adolescents; drugs; sexual behavior; sexually transmitted diseases
