An Epidemiology of Premarital Sexual Behaviour in India: Exploring Gender Differences

Abstract

This article analyzes the social context of increasing premarital sex in India in a gender perspective, which affects the overall contexts, patterns and the characteristics of premarital sexual behaviour. The study has been conducted on data collected from 169,814 unmarried women and 40,003 unmarried men, a part of the Indian Demographic Health Survey (DHS), 2015–2016. Gender differences in premarital sex were pronounced, where unmarried men were five times more likely to have premarital sex (16%) as compared to unmarried women (3%). Cox regression portrays that both men and women at younger ages were significantly more likely to initiate premarital sex. Muslim men were significantly more likely (HR = 1.16 times) to have premarital sex at younger ages. Regional variations in the prevalence of premarital sex are pronounced. Findings reveal that unmarried women with higher education, residing in urban areas and who belong to richest wealth quintile and exposed to regular mass media were more likely to have multiple sexual partners in premarital sex. There is a striking regional variation in the low prevalence of condom use in the premarital sex reported by unmarried men as well as women. In fact, unmarried men were more likely to use condom in their first as well as last premarital sexual encounter than their women counterparts. Findings suggest strengthening the empowerment of youth, especially women, through enhancing their reproductive and sexual rights education and promoting safe sexual behaviour in premarital sexual encounters.

Keywords

Premarital gender sexual behaviour unmarried

Introduction

Premarital sex is largely considered as sexual intercourse between individuals before marriage. It is generally used with reference to individuals who are engaged in sexual activity before marriage. For various decades, premarital sex was not an accepted practice and was controlled in India. Many cultures of Asia including India discourage premarital sex due to its social stigmatisation that a girl should be pure before marriage and only her husband can break this purity by initiating a physical relationship. Additionally, focusing more on Indian culture, it is also believed that physical relationship should be maintained only for procreation, which should not be encouraged before marriage. None of the cultures in India encourage premarital sex, as sexuality is seen as a cultural construct, which differs with age, social class, division of labour, freedom of social life and kinship arrangements, especially by gender.

Premarital sex continues to be a taboo for around half of India’s population, and the rules are always gender-biased. When it comes to sexual satisfaction, it was found that men outnumber women, as they are much more sexually satisfied in their lives because they have the liberty to involve even in multi-partner relationship. On the other hand, women are loyal to their partner and do not have sexual relations with multiple partners; in fact, as high as 71 per cent of women had only one sexual partner in their lives. However, 37 per cent of men had more than one sexual partner. Around one-fourth of couples are said to be accepting premarital sex if it does not involve families, and 19 per cent of couples are open to premarital sex and live-in relationship (Pandey & Mayuri, 2013). India continues to be a country where society is still rooted in traditions, and people’s sexual attitude is influenced by values and morals. Sex after marriage is a norm in India, especially for women. There are cases reported in states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan, even in the twenty-first century, where, on the first night after marriage, girls are put to the test of virginity, and if she fails to prove, she is immediately thrown out of the husband’s house the next day. In contrast, there is no such test for boys to prove and hence, they are groomed with a sexually liberal attitude. With the increasing trend of education and economic empowerment of both men and women, in the past few decades, the age at marriage has been increasing. Hence, a substantial portion of boys and girls in contemporary India have to deal with a long period of sexual desire (Nag, 1996).

The increase in premarital sex has been influenced by some social and cultural constructs in which children are growing up. Improved nutrition and better health care lead to attaining puberty at early ages. In general, girls enter puberty between the ages 8 and 13 and reach menarche (first menstruation) early, while boys enter puberty between the ages of 9 and 14 (Kumar & Tiwari 2003). In the modern society, declining age at puberty and the increasing age at marriage may also be the factors that have created a growing window of opportunity in which young people may engage in premarital romantic and sexual relationships (Hindin & Hindin, 2009).

In many societies, having sexual intercourse for the first time is considered as the breakthrough regarding physical as well as psychological maturity for both the sexes. Both aspects, timing and the context within which that occurs, have immediate and long-term consequences for the individuals. Women who have intercourse prior to marriage or when they were very young, have to face serious health and social consequences in case it ends in an unplanned pregnancy followed by an abortion. Some examples of very early sexual intercourse are when a person is raped, is a victim of incest or turns to take prostitution because of financial crunch. Also, first-time sexual intercourse increases the possibility of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) because people do not have proper knowledge of the precautions to protect from STIs (Haruna & Ibrahim, 2014). However, with increasing education and development, people mature early but marry later. So many of them become sexually active at younger ages, where a substantial proportion of them have multiple partners including sex workers. The adverse consequences of premarital high-risk sexual behaviours may be adolescent pregnancy and motherhood, increase in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), increase in the prevalence of illegal and unsafe abortions, single mother child/abandoned child, juvenile delinquency, and many more (Dave et al., 2013; Singh et al., 2014).

The available literature suggests that some individual, family, peer and community-level factors are associated with premarital sexual experiences among people. At the individual level, studies suggest that education is inversely associated with the initiation of premarital sex (Alexander et al. 2007; Gupta, 2000), while engaging in economic activities is directly associated with it (Abraham & Kumar 1999; Kayembe et al., 2008; Rich & Kim, 2002). Self-efficacy in sexual matters and engaging in prosocial activities are inversely correlated with initiation of premarital sex (Ramirez et al., 1998; Tenkorang & Maticka-Tyndale, 2008), while substance use is directly correlated with it (Alexander et al., 2007; r15Coker et al. 1994; r8Devries et al., 2009; r10Kayembe et al., 2008; Fatusi & Blum, 2008; Liu et al., 2006). At the family level, factors such as co-residence with a parent, parental disapproval of premarital sexual activities and parental connectedness end to prevent or delay premarital sexual initiation among young people, although the association was found to be significant more often for young women than young men (r15Babalola et al., 2005; r7Kayembe et al., 2008; Jaccard et al., 1996). Indian studies suggested that greater peer acceptance of premarital sex and increased frequency of peer contact are directly associated with premarital sexual initiation (Abraham & Kumar 1999; Alexander et al., 2007). Evidence also suggests that community-level factors such as neighbourhood poverty are directly associated with the initiation of premarital sex among both male and female (Ramirez et al., 1998).

Although premarital sexual behaviour has been a critical issue in ensuring life cycle approach in addressing sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and youth, the literature concerning this issue is abundant. As a result, the overall understanding of premarital sexual behaviour among adolescents and youth in India is relatively scarce, especially when sexuality remains a sensitive issue. However, increasing urbanisation, modernisation and exposure to Western culture appear to have led to the erosion of traditional beliefs and values and the importance of virginity on marriage, which in turn have contributed to developing more permissive attitudes towards sex. Being the primary contributor for premarital sex, peer pressure is found to be stronger in males than females, as males appear to be free than their counterparts to live on their own choices and are more likely to know avenues where they can experiment with sex (Widman et al., 2016; Zuo et al., 2012). The competitive behaviour among youth to prove themselves as more modern and impressive makes them a prey of social evil.

Moreover, limited open expressions of opinions and views on such topic create inquisitiveness among youth to experiment it without protection, putting them at risk. Though sex is one of the most important things among all the species for reproduction, affection and, pleasure, the amount of responsibility and consequences attached with it are inexplicable for women in Indian society. Additionally, premarital sex is always looked down upon no matter in what age it is initiated. In the light of evidence above, it becomes fundamentally essential to addressed the major research question in this article is whether modernisation and urbanisation are responsible for enhancing the liberalised sexual attitude among adolescents and youth irrespective of gender. Based on the above-described evidence, the study hypothesises that there is no gender gap in liberalised sexual attitude and behaviour across urban and rural areas. This study aims to understand the social context of premarital sexual behaviour including gender dynamics that affects sexual patterns and characteristics, which are critical to development of preventive strategies.

Data and Methods

In this study, the data used have been taken from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 in India conducted in 2015–2016. NFHS survey has been conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India. The survey collected information on demographic and health indicators at the national, regional, state, and district levels from a nationally representative sample. NFHS-4 (2015–2016) collected information from a nationally representative sample of 601,509 households, 699,686 women of age 15–49. It is worthwhile to mention that NFHS-4 has adopted a modular approach where the information on sexual behaviours has been collected from women of age 15–49 and men age of 15–54, irrespective of their marital status, only from the households selected for the state module. As the objectives of this article deal with the premarital sexual behaviour of unmarried adults in India, the analysis is based on information collected from 169,814 unmarried women of age 15–49 and 40,273 unmarried men of age 15–54. A detailed description of the process of selecting households and respondents has been presented in the national report of NFHS-4, which has been kept in the public domain (http://rchiips.org/NFHS/districtfactsheet_NFHS-4.shtml). The data analysis has been performed using STATA version12.0 software. Some multivariate methods like Binary logistic regression, ordinary least square (OLS) regression and Cox regression have also been used for the analysis.

Measures/Description of Variables

In the absence of direct variable of premarital sexual intercourse, we have analysed premarital sex among never-married men and women from those who are currently unmarried and had experienced sex. That means if a respondent had sex and is also unmarried, then we consider it as a premarital sexual act among unmarried male and female. Some multivariate methods were performed in the study to identify factors associated with age at first premarital sexual act, high-risk sexual behaviours including multiple sexual partners and condom use at first and last premarital intercourse. These high-risk sexual behaviours served as the dependent variables. The study includes some selected demographic variables (e.g., age, education, residence, caste, religion, region, wealth index and regular exposure to mass media) as independent variables.

Methods

Ordinary Least Square Regression Analysis

In this study, OLS regression was used to analyse the predictors of multiple partners as premarital sexual partners. The OLS regression is a regression model where the dependent variable is continuous, explained by several exogenous variables, and linear in parameters.

The estimated regression equation is

Y = β_{0} + β_{1} X_{1} + β_{2} X_{2} + β_{3} D + \hat{e}

where the ßs are the regression coefficients and ê is residual. Residual is the difference between the actual Y and the predicted Y and has a zero mean.

Binary Logistic Regression Analysis

In the present study, binary logistic regression analysis was done for condom use in first and last premarital sex, where, the variable condom use has taken in to two category, if the respondents have used condom taken as yes and coded 1 and otherwise taken as no and coded 0. Binary logistic regression analysis is useful when the outcome variable has only two categories (0 and 1). This model has an advantage over the simple regression model partly because it is easy to interpret the result, as it leads to a logit model that derives the relative likelihood of the occurrence of the event of interest. The basic form of logistic regression model, which yields the probability of occurring of an event, can be depicted as

p = \frac{1}{1 + e -^{z}} = \frac{e^{z}}{1 + e^{z}}

(1)

where z is the predictor variable (linear combination of independent variables) and e is the base of natural logarithm approximately equal to 2.71828. Thus, in a multivariate logistic regression, z will be a linear function of a set of predictor variables and could be written as

z = b_{0} + b_{1} x_{1} + b_{2} x_{2} + b_{3} x_{3} + \dots + b_{k} x_{k}

In the logistic regression, coefficient b is the factor by which the odds change with a unit increase in the independent variable. If b is positive, then the odds ratio will increase, as this factor will be greater than 1. Contrary to that if b is negative, then the odds will decrease. When b is 0, the factor exponential of b equals to 1, and therefore, the odds remain unchanged.

Cox Proportional-hazard Model Analysis

The Cox proportional-hazards model (Cox, 1972) is essentially a regression model for investigating the association between the survival time of patients (respondent) and one or more predictor variables. It is a multivariate technique for analysing the effect of two or more metric and/or non-metric variables on survival. For the modelling of timing of first sexual intercourse (age at first sexual intercourse), Cox proportional-hazard regression model was used in this study.

Survival analysis was carried out using Cox proportional-hazard model to identify the zero-order relationship between the age at first sexual intercourse and independent/intermediate variables of interest. Value of hazard ratios greater than 1 represents a positive effect on the rate of transition to first sexual intercourse and value of hazard ratios less than 1 signifies a delaying effect on the rate of transition to first sexual intercourse, while hazard ratios equal to 1 means that the independent/intermediate variable does not have any effect on survival. The dependent variable for this model is age at first sexual intercourse, analyzed in single years in the study.

Cox proportional-hazard model is of the form below

λ_{i} (t) = λ_{0} (t) e^{Σ β x i}

where λ_i is the rate at which individual i will transition to first sexual intercourse during the risk period, given that he or she was a virgin at time t. On the right-hand side of the equation, λ₀ is the baseline hazard rate at time t for all individuals in the sample when all covariates are 0. In Cox proportional-hazard models, λ₀ is undefined. β is a vector of parameters associated with a vector of covariates, x_i, which contain the independent, intermediate and control variables. For a given covariate, the change in the baseline hazard is given by exp (β) (Amos & Clifford, 2013).

Results

Sex Differentials in Premarital Sex

In India, strong social, cultural and religious norms prohibit premarital sexual contact between unmarried men and women. Sexual behaviour is limited to marriage. This taboo on sex is particularly more rigid for women who are traditionally expected to maintain virginity until their first marriage and even to prove their virginity as a part of the marriage ceremony. Table 1 shows the prevalence of premarital sex among unmarried men and women by some selected background characteristics. Results indicate that unmarried men were more prone to have premarital sexual activities than unmarried women in India. Overall, 16 per cent never married men and 3 per cent of unmarried women reported premarital sex, which indicates a significant gender gap in the premarital sexual behaviour in India. Further, results portray an increasing prevalence of premarital sex with increasing age of respondents. For instance, among the respondents who are currently 40 years of age and above 33 per cent of unmarried men and 8 per cent unmarried women reported that they had premarital sex. The prevalence of premarital sex was relatively higher among those who had no education, that is, 20 per cent among unmarried men and 5 per cent among unmarried women. It is attention-grabbing to observe that the prevalence of premarital sex was almost same in urban and rural areas. According to cast and religion, those from scheduled tribes and other religions than Hindu and Muslims were reported to have higher prevalence of premarital sexual act among both unmarried men and women. Respondents from the households coming from poorest wealth quintiles were relatively more likely to engage in premarital sex (17% male and 3% female). Exposure to media is considered as an important catalyst influencing attitude, perceptions and behaviour of adolescents and youth in any country. It is evident from the study that unmarried men having regular exposure to mass media were more likely to have premarital sexual relations (16%); the pattern got reversed among unmarried women, where those having no exposure to mass media were relatively more likely to have premarital sex.

Table 1.

Gender Differences in Prevalence of Premarital Sex Among Currently Unmarried Adults of Age 15–49 by Some Selected Background Characteristics, India (2015–2016).

Background Characteristics	Prevalence of Premarital Sex Among Unmarried Adults
Background Characteristics	Men	Women
Age (years)
15–19	8.5	1.7
20–24	19.7	3.5
25–29	24.8	4.3
30–34	25.8	5.2
35–39	29.6	6.0
40 and above	32.5	7.7
Years of schooling
No education	19.5	4.6
Primary	19.2	3.3
Secondary	14.4	2.0
Higher	18.5	3.2
Residence
Urban	15.8	2.4
Rural	15.9	2.5
Caste
SC	17.6	2.6
ST	20.0	5.1
OBC	15.3	2.2
Others	14.8	1.9
Religion
Hindu	16.4	2.6
Muslim	11.8	1.7
Others	20.1	2.8
Region
East	15.3	1.7
West	15.3	1.8
North	19.2	3.5
South	11.0	1.3
Northeast	13.2	2.1
Central	24.4	5.0
Wealth Index
Poorest	17.2	3.4
Poorer	16.3	2.6
Middle	14.9	2.0
Richer	15.0	2.0
Richest	16.6	2.7
Regular Exposure of Media
No	12.5	3.3
Yes	16.1	2.4
Total	15.9 (N = 6,960)	2.5 (N = 5,175)

Source: NFHS-4 (2015-16).

However, the gender differences in the pattern in prevalence of premarital sex are not uniform across different regions in the country. It was relatively higher in the central region (24% male and 5% female) followed by northern region (19% male and 4% female). On the other hand, the prevalence of premarital sex among unmarried men and women was the lowest in the Southern region of the country. In addition to the existing regional variations, there has been a noticeable gender difference in premarital sex across different states in the country, which may be attributed to differential programme thrusts to address STI/HIV vulnerability among young men and women in addition to their sociocultural transition, modernisation and development. Prevalence of premarital sexual behaviour of unmarried men and women across different states/UTs is presented in Figure 1a and b. It is worth mentioning that Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, two high HIV prevalence states over the last three decades, portray relatively lower prevalence of premarital sexual behaviour among unmarried men (<10%) as well as women (<5%). But in other four high HIV prevalence states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur and Nagaland, it hinges between 10 and 30 per cent among unmarried men. In case of unmarried women, the prevalence of premarital sexual intercourse is less than 2.50 per cent in Andhra Pradesh as well as Maharashtra. However, it is relatively higher in Manipur (5%) and Nagaland (12%). In addition to these traditionally high HIV prevalence states, the other newly emerging states with higher prevalence of premarital sex among unmarried men are Arunachal Pradesh, (25%), Chhattisgarh (24%), Haryana (23%), Madhya Pradesh (25%), Mizoram (39%), Punjab (26%), Sikkim (33%), Telangana (23%) and Orissa (41%). In case of premarital sexual behaviour among unmarried women, some of the other states, namely Gujarat (3.5%), Uttar Pradesh (4.3%) and Jharkhand (3.4%) join the above emerging states, hence enhancing the young women’s vulnerability to unwanted pregnancy followed by unsafe abortion and STI/HIV.

Age at First Sexual Intercourse

Over the years, changes in the age at sexual debut has been influenced by a wide range of contextual as well as environmental factors including place of residence, educational level, knowledge on HIV, etc. in both traditional and transitional societies. In traditional societies in which virginity is a social and cultural norm, boys and girls get married at early ages and engage in sexual relations. On the contrary, with increasing level of westernisation, urbanisation and modernisation, adolescents and youth have been enjoying freedom. As a result, a substantial proportion of adolescents and youth are reported to follow the culture of boyfriend and girlfriend, where these emotional bound do not restrict them from enjoying socio-sexual relationship. Table 2 presents the age at initiation of premarital sex and also the results of Cox regression, indicating factors associated with age at sexual initiation/debut. The predictors of premarital sex included in the multivariate Cox regression are, age, education, residence, religion, caste, region, wealth index, regular exposure of Mass media and comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS. From the results presented in Table 2, it is evident that the mean age at first premarital sex among men was 20 years and among women, it was 19 years. These findings reveal a narrow gender gap in the inception of premarital sex in India. The mean age at first premarital sex was considerably higher in older age groups among both men and women, which is indicative of early initiation of premarital sex among adolescents and youth in the country. These findings are also affirmed with the results of Cox Regression, which portrays that both unmarried men and women of higher age groups were significantly less likely to initiate premarital sex at early ages as compared to those in the age group of 15–19 years.

Figure 1(a).

Prevalence of premarital sexual behaviour of unmarried men across different states/UTs

Figure 1(b).

Source: NFHS-4 (2015-16)

Table 2.

Gender Differences in Mean Age at First Premarital Sex and Results of Cox Regression Indicating Factors Associated with Age at First Sexual Initiation Among Unmarried Adults, India (2015–2016)

Background Characteristics	Mean Age at First Premarital Sex and Hazard Ratio of Sexual Initiation Among Unmarried Adults
Background Characteristics	Men	Hazard Ratio for male (95% CI)	Women	Hazard Ratio for Female (95% CI)
Age (years)
15–19	16.1		16.1
20–24	19.0	0.23*** [0.21–0.26]	18.7	0.21*** [0.17–0.27]
25–29	21.4	0.09*** [0.08–0.10]	21.0	0.09*** [0.07–0.12]
30–34	23.2	0.05*** [0.04–0.06]	22.2	0.06*** [0.04–0.09]
35–39	24.3	0.04*** [0.03–0.05]	22.6	0.04*** [0.02–0.07]
40 and above	24.0	0.04*** [0.03–0.04]	21.4	0.04*** [0.02–0.08]
Education
No education	19.5		17.9
Primary	19.3	1.00 [0.85–1.18]	18.2	0.85 [0.50–1.45]
Secondary	19.2	1.04 [0.91–1.19]	18.0	1.01 [0.66–1.54]
Higher	20.5	0.94 [0.81–1.09]	19.8	0.78 [0.49–1.23]
Residence
Urban	20.0		19.3
Rural	19.3	1.01 [0.94–1.08]	18.1	0.89 [0.73–1.09]
Caste
SC	19.4		18.0
ST	19.3	1.17*** [1.06–1.29]	19.0	0.89 [0.67–1.21]
OBC	19.3	1.08** [1.00–1.17]	17.8	0.82 [0.64–1.06]
Others	20.3	0.99 [0.91–1.09]	18.9	0.80 [0.58–1.11]
Religion
Hindu	19.5		18.0
Muslim	19.1	1.16*** [1.05–1.29]	17.9	1.18 [0.85–1.66]
Others	20.3	0.98 [0.89–1.07]	19.6	0.92 [0.69–1.21]
Region
East	18.8		17.7
West	19.6	1.06 [0.94–1.19]	18.1	0.99 [0.65–1.66]
North	19.4	1.07 [0.97–1.19]	19.0	0.93 [0.65–1.31]
South	22.2	0.74*** [0.64–0.85]	18.6	0.88 [0.53–1.48]
Northeast	20.3	1.01 [0.88–1.16]	19.8	0.89 [0.53–1.48]
Central	18.7	1.13** [1.01–1.26]	17.7	0.96 [0.67–1.37]
Wealth Index
Poorest	18.3		17.2
Poorer	19.0	0.96 [0.86–1.06]	17.7	0.79 [0.58–1.07]
Middle	19.6	0.95 [0.85–1.05]	18.8	0.83 [0.57–1.15]
Richer	20.0	0.89** [0.79–0.99]	19.1	0.71** [0.51–0.99]
Richest	20.4	0.88** [0.79–0.99]	19.7	0.77 [0.54–1.11]
Regular Exposure of Media
No	19.1		17.3
Yes	19.6	0.96 [0.81–1.15]	18.7	0.93 [0.67–1.28]
Comprehensive Knowledge of HIV/AIDS
No	19.5		18.5
Yes	20.0	0.95 [0.90–1.01]	19.7	0.93 [0.78–1.11]
Total	19.6		18.5

Source: NFHS-4 (2015-2016).

Note: *p < 0.10; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Further, adult men and women who were educated, living in urban areas and coming from non-SC/ST and non-OBC households were less likely to have premarital sex at younger ages, resulting into relatively higher mean age at first premarital sex in comparison to their counterparts. These findings are consistent with the results of Cox regression men belonging to scheduled tribe and other backward castes, who are more likely (HR = 1.17, p < 0.01 and 1.08, p < 0.05) to have premarital sex at early ages. The power of social norms and cultural values are strong predictors of premarital sexual relationship among Indian youth. Cox regression shows that Muslim men are significantly more likely (HR = 1.16, p < 0.01, times) to have sex at younger age. Regional differences were also observed for the age at first sexual initiation. Unmarried men from the central region were significantly more likely to experience premarital sex at early ages (HR = 1.13, p < 0.05) as compared to other regions. On the other hand, men from south regions are less likely (HR = 0.74, p < 0.01) to have premarital sex at early ages. This seems to be an apparent paradox in the developmental context of premarital sex in India across different regions, which may be primarily due to their knowledge of HIV/AIDS and exposure to the detreating quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS. This argument of regional variation in initiation of premarital sex among unmarried men and women in India is supported with the finding that men and women who do not have comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS were more likely to initiate sex earlier. As India has a disproportionally higher concentration of HIV/AIDS cases in the Southern and western states in the country along with few north eastern states, there appears to have a regional variation in the imitation of premarital sex among unmarried men and women despite of differential level of modernisation and development. Another important predictor is regular exposure to mass media; those who do not have regular exposure to mass media are engaged in earlier premarital sexual debut as compared to those have regular exposure to media.

Gender Differentials in Multiple Partner Sexual Behaviour

The existence of premarital sexual intercourse among adolescents and youth is a matter of great concern because the social context and environments in which they swing from emotional to socio-sexual relationships motivate majority of them to have multiple partners and causal relationship. Table 3 presents the gender differences in multi-partner behaviour and also the results of OLS regression, which consider the proportion having multiple sexual partners among those reported premarital sexual relations for association with various predictors. Multiple partner relationship always increases the chance of STI and HIV positivity. Overall, 31 per cent unmarried men and 14 per cent of unmarried female in India, who had premarital sexual intercourse, reported having multiple partners in premarital sexual relation. Among those in the age group 15–19 years, about 27 per cent unmarried men and 8 per cent unmarried women reported that they have multiple premarital sex partners. A contrasting situation has been found between premarital sexual behaviour of men and women of age 40 and above, where 32 per cent of unmarried men had multiple premarital sexual partners, while only 0.4 per cent of unmarried women of age 40 and above reported to have multiple sexual partners. The OLS regression results also portray that men of age 40 and above were significantly more likely to have multiple partners (coff. = 1.88, p < 0.01) despite declining OLS coefficients with increasing age of unmarried men reflecting disproportionally larger concentration among those of age 15–19. It is interesting to note that educational attainment and multiple partner premarital sex provide an apparent contrast where unmarried men with no education, but unmarried women with higher education, were more likely to have multiple partners in their premarital sexual life. Multiple partner premarital sex among women in India seems to be better reported in urban areas, especially in significantly higher proportion among Muslims. It is evident from the results that almost one-third of unmarried men among Muslims, who had premarital sex, reported to have multiple partners, which is higher than among Hindus and relatively lower than among non-Hindu and non-Muslims. But the proportion of such women among Muslim women is much higher (26%) than among women from Hindu and other religions (12% each). In view of the cultural diversity in the different regions of the country, variations in the accepting attitudes of multiple sexual partners reveal that proportion of unmarried women having multiple partner sexual relations among those having premarital sex was considerably higher (43%) in the southern region, while such a proportion among unmarried men was much higher in the Northeast (38%) and central regions (37%) of the country. Proportion of women having multiple partner sexual intercourse in their premarital sex was significantly higher among those coming from wealthiest wealth quintile (25%), having regular exposure to mass media (15%) and not having comprehensive awareness of HIV/AIDS (18%). However, there is no substantial variation in the prevalence of multiple partner sexual relations among unmarried men in India despite much higher proportions of men having multiple partner sexual relations in premarital sexual intercourse, which cut across various their wealth, media exposure and comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS. These findings clearly portray developmental dimensions of premarital sexual intercourse with multiple partners among unmarried women in India. These dimensions are fuelled by urbanisation and modernisation, influencing changing values and norms to sex and sexuality. Expanding opportunities to have premarital sexual intercourse due to liberalised attitude and perceptions about premarital and multiple partner sexual relations enhance premarital sex among men and women in the country.

Table 3.

Gender Differences in Multi-partner Sexual Behaviour in Premarital Sex and Results of OLS Regression Indicating Factor Associated with Multiple Partners Among Unmarried Adults in India (2015–2016)

Background Characteristics	Men		Women
Background Characteristics	Multiple Partners	Coef. (std. err.)	Multiple Partners	Coef. (std. err.)
Age (years)
15–19	26.8		8.0
20–24	28.4	0.50***	14.5	0.80
25–29	33.7	0.61***	24.9	−0.41
30–34	41.1	0.81***	49.2	−0.78
35–39	36.6	0.44	2.7	−1.06
40 and above	31.8	1.88***	0.4	−1.32
Education
No education	42.8		10.4
Primary	33.6	−0.07	16.7	3.56**
Secondary	30.7	0.27	9.0	0.94
Higher	26.5	0.06	21.8	0.34
Residence
Urban	30.6		23.3
Rural	30.6	−0.09	9.0	0.100
Caste
SC	28.3		4.5
ST	35.6	−0.19	18.8	−0.35
OBC	30.8	−0.37*	11.6	−0.17
Others	31.1	−0.48**	9.3	−0.29
Religion
Hindu	29.5		12.1
Muslim	32.9	0.46*	25.9	2.18*
Others	39.3	0.81***	12.2	0.79
Region
East	28.7		14.7
West	30.6	0.09	10.9	−1.65
North	30.4	−0.03	17.2	−2.34*
South	24.7	−0.44	42.5	−1.59
Northeast	37.8	−0.16	15.9	−0.43
Central	36.9	0.41	7.8	−2.02
Wealth Index
Poorest	28.4		10.3
Poorer	31.3	0.39	7.4	−0.06
Middle	31.1	0.25	14.3	−0.82
Richer	33.1	0.46*	9.3	−0.46
Richest	28.8	0.19	25.3	0.84
Regular Exposure of Media
No	32.7		7.0
Yes	30.5	0.13	15.1	−1.09
Comprehensive Knowledge of HIV/AIDS
No	30.6		17.6
Yes	28.8	−0.05	9.3	−0.63
Age at First Premarital SexLess than 15 years	41.5		1.0
15–19 years	33.5	−1.71***	12.7	1.03
20–24 years	26.8	−2.37***	20.6	−0.18
25–49 years	30.3	−3.31***	9.2	−0.28
Total	30.6		13.7

Source: NFHS-4 (2015-2016).

Note: *p < 0.10; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Changing values and norms to sex and sexuality in India have been getting feminised in the recent years and hence boys and girls generally break their culture of silence on these sensitive issues even at school ages. In a substantial proportion of emotional relationships between boys and girls, they advance to physical and sexual relationships. However, conversions of premarital sexual relations in multiple partner sexual relations have a clear gender gap by their age at the first premarital sexual intercourse. The experiences of premarital sex with multiple partners among women were quite different than among men by their age at the first premarital sexual intercourse. Those unmarried men who had their first premarital sex at very younger age (less than 15 years), were more likely (42%) to engage in premarital sex with multiple partners, while, the proportion of such women was higher (21%) among those who reported having their first premarital sex at the ages 20–24 years.

Condom Use in Premarital Sexual Encounters

Premarital sex and unprotected sexual intercourse are issues of growing concern, especially among casual sex in India. It has dual implications regarding unwanted pregnancy followed by unsafe abortions and increasing transmission of STIs/STDs including HIV. In India, transmission of HIV through heterosexual contacts and increasing vulnerability of women to STI/HIV is an emerging issue. However, despite the increasing knowledge of HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention and adverse reproductive health implications of unsafe and repeated abortion, young men and women not only engage in premarital sex, multiple sexual partnerships, casual sex but also majority of such sexual encounters are unprotected. Therefore, an effort is made in this section to analyse the prevalence of condom use in the first and the last premarital sexual intercourse. Table 4a portrays that 49 per cent unmarried men and 40 per cent of unmarried women reported condom use in their first premarital sex. Condom use in the first premarital sex by current age of unmarried men in India portrays an inverted U-shaped relationship with significantly higher prevalence of condom use reported by unmarried men of age 25–29 in their first premarital sex (1.17, p < 0.10). A similar pattern was noted in condom use among women in their first premarital sexual encounter. Association between condom use at first sex and education was found to be positive for both sexes. More than half of higher educated men and women reported that they used condom at first premarital sex, which is over 1.5 times than among those who were not educated at all. Findings clearly portray a profound urban–rural gap in condom use in the first premarital sex among unmarried men as well as women. Adjusted effects of place of residence portray that unmarried men and women living in rural areas were 21 (OR = 0.79, p < 0.01) and 38 per cent (OR = 0.62, p < 0.05) less likely to use condom at their first premarital sex. Similarly, unmarried men and women from scheduled caste and Hindu religion, who had premarital sex, were significantly less likely to use condom in their first premarital sexual intercourse.

Table 4a.

Gender Difference in Condom Use in First Premarital Sex and Result of Logistic Regression Indicating Factor Associated with Condom Use in First Premarital Sex Among Unmarried Adults in India (2015–2016)

Background Characteristics	Condom Use in First Premarital Sex Among Unmarried Adults
Background Characteristics	Men	Odds Ratio (95% CI)	Women	Odds Ratio (95% CI)
Age (years)
15–19	39.6		42.4
20–24	50.6	1.05 [0.89–1.23]	37.0	0.73 [0.46–1.17]
25–29	56.5	1.17* [0.98–1.39]	100.0	*
30–34	49.7	0.94 [0.74–1.19]	*	*
35–39	48.1	1.25 [0.87–1.79]	*	*
40 and above	22.5	0.45*** [0.30–0.67]	*	*
Education
No education	35.4		29.4
Primary	36.9	0.73* [0.52–1.04]	20.5	0.41 [0.08–2.10]
Secondary	46.8	0.93 [0.69–1.24]	38.2	1.18 [0.39–3.55]
Higher	58.7	1.07 [0.78–1.45]	50.7	1.09 [0.33–3.62]
Residence
Urban	59.1		59.6
Rural	40.7	0.79*** [0.687–0.896]	30.8	0.62** [0.38–1.04]
Caste
SC	43.9		39.3
ST	36.6	0.84 [0.68–1.04]	30.8	1.18 [0.59–2.36]
OBC	48.2	1.12 [0.95–1.31]	33.4	0.76 [0.41–1.39]
Others	55.9	1.21** [1.01–1.45]	66.8	1.44 [0.64–3.21]
Religion
Hindu	47.6		39.5
Muslim	51.8	1.17 [0.94–1.44]	43.1	0.92 [0.41–2.03]
Others	53.2	1.07 [0.88–1.31]	42.3	0.44* [0.19–1.04]
Region
East	48.0		43.9
West	61.0	1.54*** [1.20–1.95]	45.4	0.89 [0.33–2.43]
North	42.0	0.96 [0.77–1.20]	33.1	0.47 [0.14–4.41]
South	44.1	1.04 [0.77–1.40]	69.6	1.29 [0.38–4.41]
Northeast	38.7	0.83 [0.66–1.11]	16.1	0.65 [0.23–1.90]
Central	48.3	1.58*** [1.25–1.99]	32.8	1.09 [0.49–2.42]
Wealth Index
Poorest	31.4		31.2
Poorer	38.5	1.16 [0.93–1.44]	29.7	0.95 [0.48–1.92]
Middle	46.8	1.45*** [1.15–1.79]	38.8	1.36 [0.64–2.85]
Richer	54.1	1.81*** [1.44–2.28]	38.2	1.06 [0.49–2.29]
Richest	60.9	1.86*** [1.45–2.37]	64.6	1.45 [0.59–3.56]
Regular Exposure of Media
No	20.5		23.9
Yes	49.5	1.20 [0.81–1.78]	43.5	0.89 [0.44–1.86]
Comprehensive Knowledge of HIV/AIDS
No	46.2		38.0
Yes	53.9	1.07 [0.95–1.20]	47.3	1.65** [1.06–2.59]
Age at First Sex
Less than 15 years	19.9		21.9
15–19 years	43.8	2.70*** [1.91–3.85]	41.9	1.95 [0.71–5.41]
20–24 years	55.9	4.69*** [3.23–6.80]	37.9	2.26 [0.69–7.32]
25–49 years	57.4	6.52** [4.25–9.98]	–	–
Multi-partner Behaviour
Single partner	50.2		39.4
Multiple partners	46.4	0.87** [0.77–0.99]	53.1	1.41 [0.61–3.26]
Total	48.5		40.0

Source: NFHS-4 (2015-2016).

Note: *p < 0.10; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

Table 4b.

Gender Difference in Condom Use in Last Premarital Sex and Result of Logistic Regression Indicating Factor Associated with Condom Use in the Last Premarital Sex, India (2015–2016)

Background Characteristics	Condom Use in Last Premarital Sex Among Unmarried Adults
Background Characteristics	Men	Odds Ratio (95% CI)	Women	Odds Ratio (95% CI)
Age (years)
15–19	70.2		36.1
20–24	77.3	1.12 [0.84–1.51]	45.3	1.45 [0.76–2.77]
25–29	81.4	1.01 [0.73–1.41]	33.4	1.51 [0.66–3.47]
30–34	67.3	0.77 [0.49–1.20]	35.5	4.08** [1.11–15.07]
35–39	83.5	1.97 [0.88–4.41]	19.2	5.08 [0.63–41.00]
40 and above	76.4	1.03 [0.43–2.50]	20.3	0.99 [0.77–12.89]
Education
No education	69.8		24.3
Primary	79.1	0.86 [0.41–1.83]	15.8	0.60 [0.47–7.78]
Secondary	74.0	0.84 [0.45–1.57]	38.8	5.09** [1.06–24.51]
Higher	80.5	0.98 [0.51–1.90]	49.7	5.11** [1.00–26.13]
Residence
Urban	78.4		57.9
Rural	74.0	1.08 [0.84–1.39]	30.7	0.52** [0.28–0.95]
Caste
SC	79.9		34.8
ST	69.9	0.63** [0.41–0.95]	34.6	1.62 [0.69–3.77]
OBC	76.7	0.79 [0.57–1.09]	38.4	0.83 [0.37–1.83]
Others	74.9	0.69** [0.48–0.99]	48.0	0.85 [0.31–2.33]
Religion
Hindu	76.2		39.0
Muslim	78.3	0.84 [0.56–1.26]	36.8	0.59 [0.20–1.75]
Others	75.0	0.88 [0.61–1.27]	34.2	0.81 [0.30–2.16]
Region
East	70.6		31.1
West	84.3	2.60*** [1.58–4.29]	33.4	0.54 [0.13–2.18]
North	70.0	1.44 [0.92–2.26]	29.7	0.18** [0.39–0.88]
South	84.1	2.95*** [1.49–5.79]	60.4	0.63 [0.08–5.02]
Northeast	51.5	1.05 [0.58–1.90]	29.0	0.17** [0.04–0.76]
Central	73.1	1.39 [0.89–2.19]	38.1	0.65 [0.19–2.18]
Wealth Index
Poorest	71.6		25.8
Poorer	72.5	0.91 [0.57–1.43]	28.6	1.39 [0.56–3.48]
Middle	75.2	1.14 [0.72–1.82]	36.1	1.65 [0.63–4.31]
Richer	76.8	1.49* [0.93–2.38]	42.1	1.87 [0.70–4.99]
Richest	79.2	1.20 [0.74–1.95]	62.0	1.88 [0.63–5.66]
Regular Exposure of Media
No	74.2		20.6
Yes	76.4	0.61 [0.21–1.74]	43.0	0.86 [0.31–2.38]
Comprehensive Knowledge of HIV/AIDS
No	75.2		41.9
Yes	78.3	1.03 [0.83–1.29]	36.9	0.90 [0.53–1.53]
Age at First Sex
Less than 15 years	77.1		29.4
15–19 years	75.2	0.58 [0.27–1.28]	100.0	2.07 [0.37–11.67]
20–24 years	77.6	0.61 [0.27–1.38]	35.2	2.16 [0.34–13.68]
25–49 years	76.7	0.84 [0.33–2. 09]	60.2	2.88 [0.31–26.56]
Multi-partners Behaviour
Single partner	78.2		36.0
Multiple partners	72.5	0.79** [0.63–1.01]	52.1	1.66 [0.69–3.97]
Total	76.4		38.5

Source: NFHS-4 (2015-16).

Note: *p < 0.10; **p < 0.05; ***p < 0.01.

In view of the existing variation in the cultures and tradition in the country, it would be seldom to expect uniform social norms and practices towards premarital sex, which is affirmed with the regional patterns in condom use in the first premarital sex. More than half of women from southern states and men from western states have reported to use condom in first premarital sex, while among other regions, less than half of the men and women were reported to use condom. Logistic regression result also shows that unmarried men who had premarital sex are more likely to use condom in their first premarital sex in the western (OR = 1.54, p < 0.01) and central (OR = 1.58, p < 0.01) regions. Further, wealth quintiles, exposure to media and comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS portray significantly positive association with condom use in the first premarital sex. Age at the time of first premarital sexual encounter is an important covariate of condom use in the first premarital sex among men as well as women having premarital sex. Those who had their premarital sex at younger ages were less significantly less likely to use condom in their first premarital sex. The differential was more pronounced in case of unmarried men than among unmarried women. Unmarried men having multiple partner sexual relations in their premarital sex were significantly less likely (OR = 0.87, p < 0.05) to use condom in their first premarital sex. However, the results get reversed in case of unmarried women having premarital sex, who were more likely to use condom in their first premarital sex if reported to have multiple partner sex as premarital sex.

On analysing the prevalence of safe sex based on information on condom use in the last sexual encounter, it is observed from Table 4b that overall 76 per cent male and 39 per cent female reported using condom in the last episode of premarital sex. It is interesting to highlight that the condom use in the first to the last premarital sex varies in a substantial manner. The proportion of unmarried men who used condom in the last premarital sex was almost two times higher than those reported to have used a condom in their first premarital sex. However, these proportions are almost unchanged in case of women having premarital sex. A clear picture of gender differences was found among both men and women who used condom in last premarital sex. It is observed that about 70 per cent of men and 36 per cent of women belonging to younger age group (15–19 years) reported to have used a condom in last premarital sex. It is reported that women belonging to the age group of 30–34 years are four times (p < 0.05) more likely to use condom at their last premarital sexual encounter. Proper education to people can make them aware of the consequences of risky sexual behaviour. A significant association is established between educational attainment and safe sexual practices in last premarital sexual encounter; as education increases, the proportion of men and women using condom in last premarital sex also increases among both sexes. The gender differences in condom use at last premarital sex have also been apparent among men and women according to their educational attainment. Approximately, four-fifths of higher educated men reported to have used a condom in last premarital sex, whereas this proportion among female is 50 per cent. Secondary and higher educated women were significantly five times (p < 0.05) more likely to have used a condom in last premarital sex than their other counterparts. Condom use in last premarital sex was higher among both unmarried men and women who were residing in urban areas, as 78 per cent unmarried men and 58 per cent unmarried women reported to have used a condom in their last premarital sex. Unmarried men among scheduled tribes and those who were from non-SC/ST and non-OBC categories were significantly less likely to use condom in their last premarital sexual encounter. However, these results are not consistent in case of unmarried women though the results are not significant. Similar to the pattern observed in condom use in the first premarital sex, there is tremendous variability in the prevalence of safe sexual practices in the last premarital sex as reported by unmarried men and women in India. It is evident from Table 5 that the prevalence of condom use in last premarital sex among unmarried men differs drastically than among unmarried women. It is observed that unmarried men from north-eastern states are less likely (52%) to have used a condom in their last premarital sex. This result holds true even after adjusting for other predictors included in the model. It is evident from the binary logistic regression results that men from western and south region were significantly more likely to use a condom at last premarital sex (OR = 2.60, p < 0.01 and 2.95, p < 0.01, respectively). This may be primarily due to larger concentration of HIV prevention programme focusing on condom use in these regions for the last three decades. In case of unmarried women, the prevalence of condom use in their last premarital sexual encounter was consistently lower than their men counterparts in each of the six regions. However, the prevalence of safe sexual encounters was significantly lower in northern (OR = 0.18, p < 0.05) and north-eastern regions (OR = 0.17, p < 0.05).

There was a positive relationship between wealth of the respondent and condom use in their last premarital sexual encounter. As wealth increases from poorest to richest, the proportion of unmarried men and women reporting condom use in their last premarital sex also increases among (from 72% to 79% among men) and (from 26% to 62% among women). However the adjusted effect of unmarried men coming from richer wealth quintile only reflect the significant effect on condom use in the last premarital sex. This indicates that poverty is not a precursor of safe sexual practices among unmarried men and women in India. It is largely influenced by attitude to safe sexual practices either surrounded with the issue of sexual pleasure or condom as a means of disease prevention in the era of STI/HIV. These findings are consistent with the fact that even exposure to mass media and comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS do not emerge as significant predictors of safe sexual practices in the last premarital sexual encounters of unmarried men and women in India.

Discussion

The analysis of this article is based on information on premarital sexual behaviour collected from 169,814 unmarried women of age 15–49 and 40,273 unmarried men of age 15–54 who portray wide gender differentials in the reported premarital sexual intercourse in India. The study has clearly brought out that unmarred men are much more likely to report premarital sex as compared to their women counterpart. A study from Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh state in India also reported a wide gender differential in premarital sex. This study shows that 23 per cent unmarried men and only 5 per cent unmarried women reported having had premarital sexual intercourse (Kumar et al., 2011). A number of studies documented the persistence of widespread gender-based double standards in India with regard to family decency and premarital sexual activity. Men are much more likely to report love and commitment as leading reasons for engaging in premarital sexual relationship. Prevalence of premarital sex is positively associated with current age of unmarried men and women. Findings of the study highlight that a considerable proportion of young (age 15–19 years) men (9%) and lower proportion of young women (2%) had engaged in premarital sex. Other studies also documented that about 17 per cent of the men reported to have their first intercourse below 15 years of age and about 9 per cent in the age group 15–19 years (Kumari & Nair, 2012). Both uneducated unmarried women and men are more engaged in premarital sex. However, gap between no education and higher education is more pronounced in case of unmarried married girls in comparison to unmarried boys. Unmarried men are more likely to have premarital sex irrespective of their educational attainment in comparison to their women counter parts. Other studies also suggested that education is inversely associated with the initiation of premarital sex (Alexander et al., 2007; Gupta, 2000). Educational differential is an important predictor of premarital sex as it affects liberalised attitude to sex; it changes the thinking of young girls and boys. There is no provision of sex education or there is no provision of family life education as part of their school curriculum that is why they are growing with notions about sex and sexuality, which they have been procuring from their peers and friends. There is a need to address education system at school and family level which provide sexual and reproductive health education to boys and girls at proper age.

Residential status reflects the scope of exposure to the environment suitable to involve in sexual activity. Although urban and rural areas are considered as two cornerstones of cultural differences and modernisation, our study could not find such differences. The level of reported premarital sexual intercourse is uniform in rural and urban areas. A study of correlates of premarital relationship among unmarried youth in Pune district reported that overall 18 per cent urban men and 16 per cent of rural men reported have had sexual intercourse compared with 1 per cent and 2 per cent of females, whereas another study from Pondicherry, India, reveals that rural residents had higher number of premarital sex compared to urban residents (Alexander et al., 2007; Prasad et al., 2014). The another study reveals that respondents of other religions are considerably more engaged in premarital sexual activity than Hindus and Muslims. It may be the reason that the concept of couple is universal in the individuals practising Christianity, parents and society often allow cohabiting couples, exercising emotional support which turns into physical relationship. The Hindu concept of pativrata—the ideal for a woman to remain loyal to her husband under all circumstances has no counterpart for men (Nag, 1996).

Furthermore, the overall mean age at first premarital sex is 1 year younger among unmarried female (19 years) than their male (20 years) counterparts. Among younger cohort (15–19 years), the mean age at premarital sex is almost same but that increases with age and goes up to 3 years among those who are 40 years and above. According to Face of Global Sex Report (2007), Indians still lose their virginity much later than people from another countries. The report says that on an average Indians are 22 years old when they lose their virginity. Indians are second only to the Malaysians (23 years) when it comes to being the oldest to lose their virginity (Durex Network, 2007; Nita, 2009).

Considerably huge gender differences were apparent in exposure to multiple premarital sexual partners. Results depict that never married men were over two times more likely to have multiple sexual partners in premarital sex than their female counterparts. The important motives for having multiple sexual partnerships among unmarried men in India are sexual desire, prowess and pleasure, while for unmarried women, there are evidences of financial independence being the main cause. These findings are similar to the issues highlighted in the recently completed telegraph name “No sex Please, we are Indian, 2013”, which highlighted that Indian men on an average have sex once a week and have three lifetime sexual partners. On the other hand, Indian women reported only two lifetime sexual partners. Americans and Australians top the chart with nine partners in altogether. Plausible explanations are that Indians do not get enough privacy to have sex as much as they desire because they live in joint families with parents and siblings. The taboo of sex outside marital union may also explain the above findings (Nelson, 2013).

Further, findings portray that higher educated unmarried adults in India were more likely to have multiple partners in premarital sexual relations. It may, therefore, be argued that education has created more time and opportunities for young people to adopt liberalised sexual norms and get involved in intimate (sexual) relationships before marriage (Acharya et al. 2015; Pachauri & Santhya, 2002). Alexander et al. (2006) documented that a larger proportion of young people than ever before are in schools and colleges, healthier and better nourished, with access to a wide range of media and the benefit of new technology. They are also exposed to new ideas and information about their roles and rights (Alexander et al., 2006).

Findings from the study reveal that urban women are more likely to have multiple sexual partners; however, men are having more sexual partners in urban and rural both than the women in this study. In any case or specially when it comes to sexual norms it is going to be long time before Indians catch up with the west as the most Indians, particularly from the rural areas , tend to think that premarital sex is immoral. A substantial proportion of unmarried Muslim women (26%), among those who had premarital sex, reported to have multiple partner premarital sexual encounter. This phenomenon among unmarried women in the Muslim community can be attributed to their cultural and religious suppression restricting them to raise their voice for control over own sexuality and equality in sexual relations. Further, there has been increasing evidence of sexual exploitation of Muslim women by their male friends having emotional attachments, which has been termed as ‘Love-Jihad’ in Indian media in recent years.

The changes in rural sexual mores will be slower, and this would partly be due to the fact that rural youth tend to marry earlier. A study conducted in 2004, among 1,500 rural college students (800 male and 700 female) in Maharashtra’s Thane district showed that not only do most of the youth disapprove of premarital sex, but they also feel it is more wrong for females to indulge in it (Nita, 2009).

Males from the Northeast region reported more to have indulged in multiple partners while female from southern India followed by northern region are more likely to report premarital multiple sexual partners. Females from richest and males from richer wealth quintile are more likely to report multiple premarital sexual partners. The major role of mass media in the formation of multiple partners in premarital sexual relationships was described in case of male. Reporting multiple partners is higher among male those who have no regular exposure of media while in contrast percentage of never married female reporting multiple partners is higher despite of having regular exposure of media. Comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS is inversely related to multiple partner behaviour among both male and female. Male and female those have comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS are reported to indulge less in multi partner behaviour.

The number of lifetime sexual partners is strongly related to the length of time since first coitus. Study highlights that younger age has emerged as a risk marker for multiple sexual partners. Never married male who had started sex at early age (less than 15 years) are reported more to have multiple premarital sexual partner, while never married female who had started sex at age 20–24 years are more prone to have multiple sexual partner.

India has a long recital of promoting condom use. It did so primarily as part of its family welfare and STD control programmes, and later, with the appearance of the HIV epidemic, as part of its HIV/AIDS control programme. Despite of the noticeable efforts, condom use in both premarital and marital relationships still remains limited in India. Nationally, around half of the men and two-fifths of women reported that they had used condom at their first sexual encounter. When condom use at last premarital sexual encounter is taken under consideration, three-fourths of never married men reported that they had used condom at their last premarital sex, whereas it is remained same among female. A study based on 2005–2006 NFHS also highlights that of the unmarried women and men aged 15–24 who have had sex in the last 12 months only 18 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, had used a condom the last time they had sexual intercourse (IIPS, 2007). A study on Indian youth conducted in 2006–2008 to assess condom use in premarital relationships portrays that only 7 per cent of young women and 27 per cent of young men who have had premarital sex had ever used condoms. Most of unmarried Indian adults had the problem of hesitation in approaching any pharmacist or provider for condoms, which was found to be inversely correlated with different measures of condom use (Santhya et al., 2011).

Male and female from rural areas were significantly less likely to report condom use at first premarital sexual intercourse. Even in their last premarital sexual encounter, never married female from rural areas were significantly less likely to use condom. Evidence from other studies also suggested that condom use among youth in premarital sexual relationships was positively correlated with number of partners as well as family types. Parental disapproval of premarital sex, more parental involvement in child’s life as well as frequent communication affect the correlation of condom use negatively (Jaccard et al., 1996; Whitaker et al., 1999).

The study has clearly brought out the fact that the unmarried males were significantly more likely to use condom in their first as well as the last premarital sexual intercourse rather than the female in the different regions of India, particularly western, central and southern region. In most of the patriarchal societies, women are expected to remain silent on the issues of sex and sexuality. As a result, it becomes hard for them to learn about the risks and complications involved in premarital sexual relations. Even for those who are aware, negotiating safe sex is usually difficult due to lack of sexual rights. Further, the stigma that women ought to remain virgin till marriage stops them from accessing treatments for STDs for the fear of being questioned (Nirantar, 2014).

Conclusions and Recommendations

Findings of this study culminate wider gender differences in inception of premarital sex, where unmarried males were significantly more likely to have premarital sex than women but their educational attainment matters. Educated unmarried women having premarital sex were more likely to have multiple partners in their sexual relations. That is why the gender differences in premarital sex in India demand suitable programmes and methods to position sexual rights of young women with an adequate network and enabling environment. Despite the significantly higher prevalence of premarital sex among unmarried men and women of age 40 and above, the intensity of premarital sexual intercourse was much higher among younger age groups, especially among those of ages 15–19. The findings also conclude that those having first premarital sex before age 15 were more likely to have multiple sexual partners. These adverse sexual behaviours among adolescents and youth may be attributed to their liberalised sexual attitudes and higher exposure to sexual opportunities and avenues emerging out of breaking of social and cultural norms about sex and sexuality. These findings indicate an urgent need to strengthen knowledge and information on sex and sexuality as a part of school curriculum. Findings of the article reinforce that lower educational attainment and lack of comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS were important precursors of multiple partner sexual relations and lower use of condom. Therefore, all the programmes and services to strengthen adolescent reproductive health programmes should have an element of capacity building in terms of awareness and utilisation of health services to protect them from STI, unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortions with a conducive environment for behaviour change. Higher prevalence of premarital sex as well as multiple partner relationship among unmarried Muslim men as well as women may be primarily due to modernisation and weakening of cultural, traditional and religious bonds and hence demands for the increasing role of religious institutions.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to all the coordinators of NFHS-4, 2015–2016 for their relentless efforts in generating community-based estimates of such a sensitive and highly personal at premarital sex National and Sub-national levels. Such a sensitive and highly personal information at national and sub national level.

Ethical Approval

Analysis of this manuscript utilises a secondary data set with no identifiable information on the survey participants. The use dataset in this manuscript is accessible in the public domain for research use; hence, approval was not required from review board of the institute as there is no question of human subject protection arising in this case.

Informed Consent

Not Applicable.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

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