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Urgent need for contraceptive education and services in Chinese unmarried undergraduates: A multi-campus survey

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Summary

In order to ascertain prevalence rate of premarital sexual intercourse, unintended pregnancy and abortion, and evaluate associated factors of unintended pregnancy among undergraduates from all over China, the representative sample of unmarried undergraduates was obtained by using a multi-stage, stratified, probability cluster design, and data were collected by using a survey questionnaire. 62 326 available responders were gained. 11.6% of them acknowledged having experiences of premarital sexual intercourse (standardized prevalence rate of sexual intercourse was 13.8%). 31.5% of students active in premarital sex acknowledged undergoing unintended pregnancy. 76.2% of pregnant students selected abortion to end it. Of students active in premarital sex, 46.2% used contraception at the first sexual intercourse, 28.2% replied “always” using contraception in sexual intercourse. The rate of using condoms, oral contraceptives (OCs), and withdrawal among students who had used contraception was 52.0%, 31.0%, and 27.2% respectively. “No preparation for sex” (40.3%), “pleasure decrement” (32.1%), “won’t-be-pregnancy in occasional sexual intercourse” (30.2%) were their common excuses for using no contraception. The identified risk factors for unintended pregnancy among students active in premarital sex by multivariate analysis were as follows: having no steady lover [having no steady lover vs having a steady lover: odds ratio (OR), 1.875; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.629–2.158], unaware of the course of conception (unaware vs aware: OR, 2.023; 95% CI, 1.811–2.260), considering abortion not endanger women’s physical and mental health (no endangerment vs endangerment: OR, 2.659; 95% CI, 2.265–3.121), nonuse of contraception (never use vs always use: OR, 1.682; 95% CI, 1.295–2.185). Medical students were not less likely to experience an unintended pregnancy than nonmedical students (OR, 1.111; 95% CI, 0.906–1.287). The substantial proportion of unintended pregnancy among undergraduates indicates a need for convenient and targeted contraceptive education and services.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Family Planning, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Yuanzhong Zhou  (周远忠), Shiyun Huang  (黄诗韵) & Chengliang Xiong  (熊承良)

  2. School of Public Health, Zunyi Medical College, Zunyi, 563000, China

    Yuanzhong Zhou  (周远忠)

  3. Department of O&G, Hubei Provincial Corps Hospital, Chinese People’s Armed Police Forces, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Jinwen Xiong  (熊锦文)

  4. Reproductive Medical Center, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, China

    Jie Li  (李 洁)

  5. Department of Andrology, Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Region, Nanjing, 210002, China

    Xuejun Shang  (商学军)

  6. Institute for Population and Family Planning of Chongqing City, Chongqing, 400020, China

    Guohui Liu  (刘国辉)

  7. Sexual Health Education Research Center, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100037, China

    Meimei Zhang  (张玫玫)

  8. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Pin Yin  (尹平) & Sheng Wei  (魏 晟)

Authors
  1. Yuanzhong Zhou  (周远忠)
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  2. Jinwen Xiong  (熊锦文)
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  3. Jie Li  (李 洁)
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  4. Shiyun Huang  (黄诗韵)
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  5. Xuejun Shang  (商学军)
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  6. Guohui Liu  (刘国辉)
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  7. Meimei Zhang  (张玫玫)
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  8. Pin Yin  (尹平)
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  9. Sheng Wei  (魏 晟)
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  10. Chengliang Xiong  (熊承良)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chengliang Xiong  (熊承良).

Additional information

This project was supported by a grant from The Chinese “11th” Five-Year Plan” Supporting Science and Technology Project (No. 2006BAI15B04).

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Zhou, Y., Xiong, J., Li, J. et al. Urgent need for contraceptive education and services in Chinese unmarried undergraduates: A multi-campus survey. J. Huazhong Univ. Sci. Technol. [Med. Sci.] 31, 426–432 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-011-0468-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-011-0468-2

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