Contribuţia debutului sexual şi a comportamentelor de risc pentru sănătate asupra reuşitei la bacalaureat a adolescenţilor din România
How Do Early Sexual Debut and Health Risk Behaviors Influence Baccalaureate Performance of Romanian Adolescents?

Summary/Abstract: Suggested relationship between sexual and health risk-taking behaviours and school success is rarely investigated in CEE countries. In our project we study their impact on results of the compulsory graduation examination, called “baccalaureate” in Romania. In our follow-up analysis 401 graduate high-school students were included, from a randomly selected sample of 940 Romanian students. We measured scholastic achievement by promotion and performance in standardized testing. The self-administered Future Adults Study questionnaire included items on health-related (smoking, binge drinking, and illicit drug use) and sexual debut behaviours. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were conducted. Results show that students from rural and deprived communities, those obtaining failing grades in the last semester and involved in an unstable relationship at the sexual debut had significantly increased odds of failure and lower average grade in the final exam, when adjusted for age, gender, religious practice and health status. Effect sizes were medium to large. The main findings of our study suggest that education for life should not be focused and restricted only to the formal education (the academic outcomes like exams and grades), but should also include health education in order to help adolescents to make a successful transition to the new life stage of early adulthood. In the frame of health education, school educators should not neglect the education for reproductive health, and health education should accompany the adolescent alongside his life.

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