Factores asociados al uso autodeclarado de la anticoncepción de emergencia en la población escolarizada de 14 a 18 a？os de edad

objective: to describe factors associated with self-reported use of emergency contraception in adolescents attending school in the city of terrassa (barcelona, spain) in 2008. methods: we carried out a cross-sectional study to describe the health habits of teenage girls and boys attending school in terrassa. a representative sample of adolescents aged between 14 and 18 years (n=1300) was used. the adolescents were administered a questionnaire designed ad hoc. adolescents who reported having had sexual intercourse at least once were studied (n=390). the outcome variable was self-reported use of emergency contraception at some time. the explanatory variables provided information on sociodemographic characteristics, drug use and sexuality. the odds ratios (or) and 95% confidence intervals (95% ci) were fitted using multivariate logistic regression models. the results were stratified by sex. results: a total of 390 students, 28.2% girls and 20.1% boys (their partners) had used emergency contraception at some time. among boys, the final multivariate model showed that emergency contraception was associated with alcohol abuse (or=2.7; 95% ci:1.0-7.5), having sexual intercourse weekly (or=2.8; 95% ci: 1.1-7.2) and not having discussed issues about sexuality in the classroom (or=2.5; 95% ci: 1.0-6.5). among girls, self-reported emergency contraception was associated with alcohol abuse (or=2.7; 95% ci: 1.4-5.6), cannabis consumption (or=3.1; 95% ci:1.6-6.0) and weekly sexual intercourse (or=2.0; 95% ci: 1.1-3.9). conclusion: promotion and prevention strategies should begin as early as possible. behavioral differences should be seen from a gender perspective in the fields of both research and program implementation.