Correlates and Determinants of Reproductive Behavior among Female University Students in Tehran

Background: this paper aims to examine the reproductive health and behaviors which might expose young people at risks of stis/hiv and potential correlates of such behaviors among female college students in tehran. methods: this paper focuses on the study conducted on a sample of 1743 female undergraduate students in four multidisciplinary universities in tehran during 2005- 2006 using a two-stage stratified cluster sampling. the main focus was to determine the predictors of premarital heterosexual reproductive behavior among female stu- dents. results: the mean age of the unmarried students was 21.4 years. low self-efficacy (or=7.87, p <0.001), perceived peers' liberal attitude on virginity (or= 4.33), perception of parents' liberal attitude towards relationship with the opposite sex and poor family atmosphere (or=3.04 and 2.20, p <0.001, respectively) were predictors of ever having any type of sexual experience after controlling for other factors. the only predictors of penetrative sex remained in the logistic model were older age (or=5.95), low self-efficacy (or=10.86), poor family atmosphere (or= 2.96), liberal parental attitude (or=4.29) and liberal peer norms on virginity (or= 4.90). conclusion: interventional programs need to be designed at various levels such as enhancing self-efficacy, informing families of the protective role of a balanced con- trol and monitoring over adolescents' behavior and choices of peer network against premarital sexual activity.