Table 2

Percentage of adolescents who had early sexual intercourse, by sex and sociodemographic characteristics (n=53 508)

Variable	Early sexual intercourse
	Females			Males
	n	%*	P value†	n	%*	P value†
Age (years)			<0.001			0.260
15–18	198	27.1		286	35.0
19–20	322	44.1		372	45.5
21–22	171	23.4		127	15.5
23–24	40	5.5		32	3.9
Hometown			<0.001			<0.001
Rural	72	9.9		106	13.0
Suburban	195	26.7		224	27.4
Urban	464	63.5		487	59.6
Maternal educational attainment			<0.001			<0.001
Illiterate	41	5.7		35	4.4
Primary school	91	12.6		133	16.6
Middle or high school	406	56.0		457	57.0
College and above	187	25.8		177	22.1
Paternal educational attainment			<0.001			0.031
Illiterate	19	2.7		27	3.4
Primary school	87	12.2		106	13.3
Middle or high school	385	53.9		475	59.7
College and above	224	31.3		188	23.6
Monthly expenditure (USD)			<0.001			<0.001
<150	42	5.8		55	6.7
150–249	114	15.6		134	16.4
250–300	152	20.8		176	21.5
≥300	423	57.9		452	55.3
Family attitudes towards sex			<0.001			<0.001
Conventional	502	68.7		434	53.1
Medium	142	19.4		343	42.0
Open	87	11.9		40	4.9
Parent–adolescent communication about sex			<0.001			<0.001
Seldom	336	46.0		439	53.7
Medium	367	50.2		212	26.0
Frequent	28	3.8		166	20.3

*Row percentages compared with adolescents who did not have early sexual intercourse.
†Differences between categories within each variable. Chi-square test for 2×n tables.
USD, United States dollars.