posted on 2023-08-30, 17:54authored byLee Smith, Philip B. Ward, Davy Vancampfort, Guillermo F. López-Sánchez, Lin Yang, Igor Grabovac, Louis Jacob, Damiano Pizzol, Nicola Veronese, Jae Il Shin, Jinhee Lee, Daragh T. McDermott, Ai Koyanagi
Objectives: To examine the relationship of food insecurity with sexual intercourse, multiple sexual partners and non-condom use. Methods: Data on food insecurity (hunger) and sexual behaviors from 205,296 adolescents from 53 countries. Associations were analyzed using meta-analysis. Results: Overall, 16.0% of the adolescents ever had sexual intercourse and the prevalence of moderate and severe food insecurity was 44.9% and 6.2%, respectively. Moderate and severe food insecurity was associated with higher odds for sexual intercourse. Any food insecurity was significantly associated with condom nonuse at last sex. Conclusions: Food insecurity was associated with higher odds of ever having sexual intercourse dose-dependently.