A carne é fraca : religião, religiosidade e iniciação sexual entre estudantes do Ensino Médio na Região Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte, 2008

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the association among religion, religiosity, and sexual initiation of adolescents, 15-19 years-old, male and female, high school students in public state schools. Data come from the first cohort, second wave of the longitudinal survey Pesquisa Jovem, funded by Secretaria de Estado de Desenvolvimento Social e Esportes de Minas Gerais (Sedese), and conducted by the Demography Department of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Cedeplar/UFMG) in 2008. The participating schools were selected in four cities in the state of Minas Gerais: Ribeirão das Neves, Belo Horizonte, Pedro Leopoldo, and Esmeraldas. Several characteristics (sociodemographic, educational, life style, and sexuality, including sexual initiation) were compared, according to their religious participation, a combination of religious affiliation and church attendance (n=2658). The association between religion, religiosity, and sexual initiation was tested after controlling for those same characteristics. Analyzes include descriptive statistics, as well as univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. Results indicate strong association between religious affiliation, church attendance, and sexual initiation. Although sexual initiation is more frequent among adolescents who go to church only sporadically, the proportion who report having had sexual intercourse is high, even among the churchgoers. If compared to those who have no religious affiliation, committed Mainline Protestant and Pentecostal, males and females, as well as committed Catholic females are less likely to have had their first sexual intercourse. Results also indicate that the female sexual onset is usually at older ages if compared to that of the male, and there is intense gender representation.