Drug use: Seven percent of respondents reported that they have ever used drugs. Reported drug consumption was much higher among men than among women. Among males, drug use was highest among respondents between the ages of 23-29 years old. Drug use among females did not differ by age. Marijuana and hashish were the most common drugs used. The use of heroine was highest in Ivanovo and Saratov regions where 13% of drug users reported using it.
Alcohol use: Alcohol consumption was very high in all age groups, including teenagers and there were only small differences in alcohol use between men and women. Adolescent boys were more likely than adolescent girls to report drinking alcohol. About half of all respondents reported that most of their friends and acquaintances drink alcohol. One-third of teenage respondents reported that most of their friend and acquaintances drink alcohol (which is much higher than their reported personal behavior).
Sexual debut: The reported median age for first sexual intercourse was 16 years for boys and 18 years for girls. (While it should be noted that males typically over-report and females typically under-report sexual activity, the use of self-administered questions to collect this information may have reduced this bias.) Overall, the sexual debut of males appears to take place in rather short period of their lifetime – between 15 and 19 years of age. Among females, the rapid increase in sexual activity appears to take place when they are about 17 years of age.
Adolescents reported a number of reasons for delaying their sexual debut. Unmarried male adolescents were divided in their reasons for not initiating sexual activity, with 44 percent citing the lack of opportunity and 38 percent citing the desire to finish school and pursue a career as their main reason for not initiating sexual activity. Among unmarried female adolescents, over 50 percent cited the desire to finish school and pursue a career and 26 percent cited the desire to control their own life as the main reason for not initiating sexual activity. Only 19 percent of unmarried female adolescents indicated that the lack of an opportunity was the main reason they had not initiated sexual activity.
Sexual behavior among unmarried respondents: Overall, 68 percent of all unmarried males and 52 percent of unmarried females were sexually active in the 12 months prior to the survey. Among these sexually active unmarried respondents, half of males and one-quarter of females reported having sex with more than one partner in the past year. Three-quarters of sexually active unmarried respondents used a contraceptive method at last sex. Most unmarried respondents report using condoms, followed by smaller proportions of respondents using oral contraceptives or withdrawal. Few unmarried respondents reported using other types of contraceptive methods.
Sexual behavior among married respondents: Contraceptive use was also high among married couples. Over half of all married respondents reported using a contraceptive method the last time they had sex with their regular partner, with condoms (29 percent), IUDs (18 percent), and pills (15 percent) being the most commonly used methods. Twenty-two percent of married males and 11 percent of married females also reported sexual intercourse with a non-regular partner in the 12 months prior to the survey. Among those respondents having sex with a non-regular partner, 70 percent reported using a condom or other contraceptive method the last time they had sex with a non-regular partner. Condoms were the primary method of choice with non-regular partners.
Overall attitudes toward contraceptive methods were positive, although concerns about side effects may limit their use. Seventy-eight percent of men and 87 percent of women approved of the use of contraceptives. However, fewer than half of all respondents report that they would rather accept some negative effects from contraceptives than take a chance of becoming pregnant. Most respondents did not see any particular obstacles from religious norms and authorities to using contraceptives (only one third of respondents think that religion was against women using family planning methods).
Partner communication on contraceptive: About half of male and female respondents with a current sexual partner reported they had discussed contraceptive methods with their spouse or partner in the past year. Both men and women agreed that a husband and a wife should discuss family planning together; men were more likely to agree with this statement than women. However, 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women agreed that wives should get their husbands’ permission before taking any contraceptives. Few men and women reported that they thought contraceptives were solely a woman’s responsibility. However, there appears to be a gulf between desired behavior and actual behavior. Many couples don't discuss contraception and condoms remain a dominant method of contraception.
Commercial sex: About three percent of sexually active unmarried men and two percent of married men reported they had had sex in exchange for money. Visits to a commercial sex worker were most common among unmarried men between the ages of 23 and 29 years.
Forced sex: One percent of sexually active men and 10 percent of sexually active women reported that they had sexual intercourse against their will (among them, 14 percent were sexually active girls between the ages of 14 and 17 years).
Sexually transmitted infections: Seven percent of men and five percent of women reported having either a genital ulcer or unusual discharge in the 12 months prior to the survey. Respondents who reported having a symptom of a STI in the 12 months prior to the survey were asked what they did after becoming aware of their STI. Women were more likely than men to inform their sexual partners about their STI symptoms and to stop having sex when they had these symptoms. Fifty-six percent of women and 45 percent of men informed their partners about their STI symptom and only 30 percent of women and men stopped having sex with their partners while they had symptom of an STI. Thirty-eight percent of men and 27 percent of women reported using condoms at the time they had STI symptoms. Half of males and one third of females who reported a STI in the past year did not seek any advice or treatment. Forty-six percent of men and 64 percent of women sought treatment for their STI at a health facility.
Pregnancy: In more than half of the cases, the last (or current) pregnancy was unplanned. Among teenagers, almost all last pregnancies were unplanned (91 percent). The share of unplanned pregnancies was also very high among women between the ages of 18-22 years (64% of their last pregnancies were unplanned). But, even for adult women over 22 years of age, most second pregnancies were unplanned.
Abortion: One-fourth of all women in the survey have had an abortion at least once in their life. The level of reported abortion was 1 percent for teenagers and 9 percent for women between the ages of 18 and 22 years old. The median age for having an abortion was 28 years of age. Although the level of abortions in the survey sample was high, the attitudes of respondents towards abortion were very negative: 77 percent of males and 86 percent of females agreed that abortions were much more harmful than any contraceptive method. One quarter of respondents agreed that an abortion is the best solution to an unplanned pregnancy.
