Sexual behavior and job stress in software professionals, Bengaluru - India

BACKGROUND: Sexually transmitted diseases are now gradually affecting the general population groups increasingly. Our earlier observations from qualitative research called for an effort to understand the sexual exposure, activity and behavior of the workers in these software professionals in Bengaluru, India. AIM: The current study is explored to understand the association of the sexual behaviors with Job. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study design employed was a cross-sectional study using a mixed sampling method. A total of 1071 subjects from software sector in Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka completed the self-administered questionnaire. The source population comprised all information technology/information technology enabled services (IT/ITES) professionals aged 20-59 years working in “technical functions” in 21 selected worksites (units) of the software industry. The exposure of interest was job stressors and the outcome measures were sexual behaviors in the form of having multiple sexual partners, paid sex in last 3 months and frequency of intercourse with irregular sexual partners and condom use with regular partners during last sexual act. RESULTS: Among the study population, 74.3% reported not using a condom during their last vaginal intercourse with their regular partner. Regression estimates indicated that workers with high physical stressors had 6 times odds of having paid for sex in last 3 months and those with a moderate level of income related stress had 2.4 times likelihood of not using a condom during the last sexual intercourse with their regular partner. CONCLUSION: There is scope for starting prevention programs among young professionals in the IT/ITES sector to mitigate their possible risk behaviors.