Contraception and sexuality in an area-specific group of Swedish women 15-34 years of age.

In a community-based study in a Swedish suburban/rural area, all women aged 15-34 years (n = 671) were invited to the local health centre to be examined for chlamydia infection and for an interview. The attenders were asked about contraceptive history, age at first intercourse, number of life-time sexual partners and socioeconomic background. The net attendance was 69%, and contraceptive information on an additional 20% could be gathered through medical records. The average age at first intercourse was around 16 years, and the average number of sexual partners in the age-groups 20-24, 25-30 and 31-34 years was 4.0, 5.6 and 6.1, respectively. Of all women, around 75% had used contraception at first intercourse, and there was no tendency to a changing pattern during the past 20 years studies through the interviews. Combined estrogen-progestagen pills were by far the most used contraceptive method, presently being used by 42% of the contracepting women, followed by condom (23%), IUD (19%) and other hormonal methods (10%). It is concluded that sexual life in Sweden starts earlier than it did 30 years ago, that the number of sexual partners is higher, that most women in the studied group were efficient contraceptors, and that hormonal contraception was by far the most common method.