Students' Perspective on Factors Influencing Premarital Sexual Intercourse

Introduction: early initiation of sex increases the risks of unprotected sex, multiple partners,and sexually transmitted infections. the effective factors of premarital sexual intercoursehave not been widely studied.objective: this study aimed at identifying environmental factors influencing premaritalsexual intercoursefromthe iranian youths rsquo; perspective.materials and methods: using a qualitative content analysis method, we carried out onstudents of the payame noor university of shiraz, iran. a total of 30 single male andfemale students were selected using a purposive sampling method. semistructuredinterviews were used to collect data. the obtained data were analyzed via thematicanalysis. participation in the study was voluntary with informed consent.results: seven teen subjects were male, and 13 were female. analysis of the transcriptsyielded 5 main categories: culture, cocioeconomic status, family, media, and friends, andpeers. the subcategories were acculturation, cultural norms, economic problems, heavydowry, availability of unhealthy options, family support, family values and norms, control andsupervision, parentchild relationship, satellite, internet, friends,and peer pressure, and lackof resistance to peer and friends rsquo; influence.conclusion:the educational programs and interventions should emphasize the role of culturalfactors and family support and monitoring by families to help correct sexual orientation andhealthy behaviors among adolescents. furthermore, training programs should consider thenegative impacts of western media and the effects of peer pressure on the formation andcorrection of premarital sexual behavior