Socioeconomic variation in early sexual debut among female adolescents in Bangladesh: Trend and decomposition analysis of 2011– 2017 Demographic and Health Survey data

Socioeconomic variation in early sexual debut among female adolescents in Bangladesh: Trend and decomposition analysis of 2011– 2017 Demographic and Health Survey data | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Socioeconomic variation in early sexual debut among female adolescents in Bangladesh: Trend and decomposition analysis of 2011– 2017 Demographic and Health Survey data Md. Aslam Hossain, Md Kamrul Islam, Bristi Rani Saha, A. M. Mujahidul Islam, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4494264/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background Female adolescent sexual behavior, particularly early sexual debut (ESD), poses significant risks and has garnered attention from researchers and society. While various factors influencing early sexual initiation have been studied, including socioeconomic disparities. This study examines the socioeconomic variation in ESD among female adolescents aged 15 to 19 in Bangladesh. Methods This research examines information gathered from three Bangladeshi Demographic and Health Survey data sets from 2011–2017. Researchers employed chi-square tests to identify relationships between categorical variables and logistic regression to pinpoint factors associated with ESD. To assess the socio-economic variation of ESD, the analysis utilized concentration curves, concentration indices, and decomposition techniques. Results Our study revealed that female adolescents’ age, adolescents from Rajshahi, Chittagong, Rangpur, Barisal, and Dhaka regions, who shared the toilet with other households, who were overweight, who preferred to marry earlier or later, who did not know about sexually transmitted infections, and who used contraceptives were more prone to experience ESD, with statistically notable findings (p < 0.05). In addition, adolescent females who were not Muslim and who pursued higher education were less likely to experience ESD. Further analysis of socioeconomic disparities using concentration curves showed poorer female adolescents had a higher incidence of ESD (CCI = -0.1001, p < 0.001). Decomposition of this inequality revealed that a female adolescent's education level was the largest contributor (48.81%) to the observed disparities, followed by knowledge of sexually transmitted infection (20.66%), adolescent's current age (17.78%), toilet shared with other households (7.55%), preferring to marry time (6.85%), and in the administrative region where female adolescents live (5.09%). Conclusions These findings highlight the complex interplay of socio-demographic factors in shaping adolescent sexual behaviors in Bangladesh. Targeted interventions addressing regional disparities, improving access to education and resources, and promoting reproductive health education will help to prevent ESD among female adolescents in Bangladesh. Female adolescent early sexual debut socio-economic concentration curve decomposition Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4494264","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":312214431,"identity":"f4744ba6-30d8-4852-9bfd-16ada9921f11","order_by":0,"name":"Md. 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While various factors influencing early sexual initiation have been studied, including socioeconomic disparities. This study examines the socioeconomic variation in ESD among female adolescents aged 15 to 19 in Bangladesh.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis research examines information gathered from three Bangladeshi Demographic and Health Survey data sets from 2011\u0026ndash;2017. Researchers employed chi-square tests to identify relationships between categorical variables and logistic regression to pinpoint factors associated with ESD. To assess the socio-economic variation of ESD, the analysis utilized concentration curves, concentration indices, and decomposition techniques.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eOur study revealed that female adolescents\u0026rsquo; age, adolescents from Rajshahi, Chittagong, Rangpur, Barisal, and Dhaka regions, who shared the toilet with other households, who were overweight, who preferred to marry earlier or later, who did not know about sexually transmitted infections, and who used contraceptives were more prone to experience ESD, with statistically notable findings (p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05). In addition, adolescent females who were not Muslim and who pursued higher education were less likely to experience ESD. Further analysis of socioeconomic disparities using concentration curves showed poorer female adolescents had a higher incidence of ESD (CCI = -0.1001, p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). Decomposition of this inequality revealed that a female adolescent's education level was the largest contributor (48.81%) to the observed disparities, followed by knowledge of sexually transmitted infection (20.66%), adolescent's current age (17.78%), toilet shared with other households (7.55%), preferring to marry time (6.85%), and in the administrative region where female adolescents live (5.09%).\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThese findings highlight the complex interplay of socio-demographic factors in shaping adolescent sexual behaviors in Bangladesh. Targeted interventions addressing regional disparities, improving access to education and resources, and promoting reproductive health education will help to prevent ESD among female adolescents in Bangladesh.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Socioeconomic variation in early sexual debut among female adolescents in Bangladesh: Trend and decomposition analysis of 2011– 2017 Demographic and Health Survey data","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-06-19 02:24:42","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4494264/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"e5120aad-096f-4e16-af3f-f1e76ee9e3b8","owner":[],"postedDate":"June 19th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-11-11T12:53:54+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-06-19 02:24:42","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4494264","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4494264","identity":"rs-4494264","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}