Excerpt: Proper sex education should also contain suggestions on how to manage the depression that could occur after sexual behavior, as our results indicate that the correlation between depression and sexual behavior may lead to further impulsive and unsafe sexual behavior.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health

18(8), 4228; 2021, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084228

Kim, H.; Jeong, W.; Jang, S.; Kim, Y.; Park, E.

Abstract

Adolescent depression and suicide have become leading public health and socioeconomic problems. Determining the connection between adolescent behavior and depression can inform strategies to reduce the prevalence of depression and suicide. We investigated the association between sexual behavior and depression in South Korean adolescents. Data for this cross-sectional study were obtained from the 2017–2019 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey. Data of 178,664 subjects were analyzed using chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression.

After adjusting for covariates, the prevalence of depression was found to be higher in subjects with experience of sexual intercourse (adjusted odds ratio = 1.71, 95% confidence interval = 1.59–1.83 in boys; adjusted odds ratio = 1.47, confidence interval = 1.33–1.61 in girls). On categorizing subjects into two groups based on suicidality, subjects with sexual intercourse experience had higher odds ratios for depression with suicidality (aOR:2.16 in boys, aOR:1.80in girls) than depression without suicidality (aOR:1.49 in boys, aOR:1.25 in girls). We identified the relationship between sexual behavior and the prevalence of depression; adolescents with experience of sexual intercourse were more likely to have depression with suicidality. Further research using prospective designs should serve as the basis for appropriate sex education policies to manage the relationship between sexual behavior and depression. View Full-Text