Violence and sexual risk taking reported by young people at Swedish youth clinics

BACKGROUND: Early identification of sexual risk taking and exposure to violence is fundamental when seeking to strengthen young people’s health. The purpose of this study was to study factors associated with sexual risk taking and ill health, as well as to study gender differences, and the associations amongst exposure to multiple forms of violence, sexual risk taking and ill health. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study based on data from 3,205 young people answering a questionnaire belonging to the Sexual health Identification Tool (SEXIT 2.0), during consultations at 12 youth clinics in Sweden. The analyses are based on descriptive statistics and nominal multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Male, transgender and non-binary youths reported significantly more events of sexual risk taking and ill health compared to women. Those who reported sexual initiation before the age of 15 (OR 2.87, CI 1.81–4.56), three or more sexual partners in the past 12 months (OR 2.68, CI 1.70–4.22) and to have ever experienced an unintended pregnancy (OR 2.29, CI 1.32–3.97) were more than twice as likely to report exposure to physical, emotional and sexual violence. Transgender, non-binary youths and women were more exposed to multiple violence (OR 3.68, 13.50) compared to men. CONCLUSIONS: Transgender and non-binary youths are exposed to significantly more violence compared to women and men. Experiences of sexual risk taking and ill health demonstrated strong associations with exposure to multiple violence.