Sexual activity, union and childbearing among adolescent women in the Americas
Wulf, D.; Singh, S.
International Family Planning Perspectives 17(4): 137-144
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0190-3187 DOI: 10.2307/2133230Document Number: 316767
The likelihood of a woman having sexual intercourse before the age of 20 ranges from 46%-63% in Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago, according to data from the Demographic and Health Survey taken from rural and urban areas. The probability of entering a union before 20 is somewhat lower, ranging from 36%-60%, this figure being particularly low in rural areas of Trinidad and Tobago. And the likelihood of having a first child before the age of 20 ranges from 30%-50%. In some of the countries, women aged 20-24 are less likely than those aged 40-45 to have experienced all three events before the age of 20, but in others there has been virtually no change or the decline has been erratic. Overall, teenagers in all the countries are better educated today than they were 25 years ago. However, in seven of the nine countries, among women with a primary education or less, particularly in rural areas, those aged 20-24 are more likely than those aged 40-44 to have had first intercourse, first union and first birth before the age of 20. Among women who have had secondary schooling or more, the relationship between education and the likelihood of these three events is more erratic: only in one country (Colombia) did the likelihood of all three events decrease between the youngest and the oldest cohorts of women with secondary schooling or more.