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Introduction: Religiosity and sexuality present numerous interconnections. Little is known regarding the specific causal pathways between each religiosity dimension and sexual behavior. The objectives of this study were (1) to explore the relationship between religiosity (measured through attendance at religious services, salience, and prayer) and sexual initiation in adolescents and (2) to establish the role of sexual permissiveness as mediator of the impact produced by religiosity in sexual initiation. Methods: This study analyzes data from an ongoing school-based international study examining what young people feel and think about relationships, love, and sexuality. An anonymous, self-administered online questionnaire was developed in Spanish. A total of 4,366 students, aged 14-18, completed the questionnaire. A final sample of 2,919 questionnaires was analyzed. Two unconditional logistic regression models were fit with religiosity variables and possible confounders as independent variables (with and without permissiveness, respectively). The dependent variable was sexual initiation. A final path analysis was performed to further understand the results. Results: Our study highlights that, in predominantly Catholic and Spanish-speaking countries, the fact of attending church and praying may greatly contribute to postponing sexual relations during adolescence, even independently of their attitudes on sexual permissiveness. Conversely, the effect of salience on sexual initiation seems to be fostered only through the mediation of sexual permissiveness. Our findings point to an indirect effect of the three religiosity dimensions (and in particular, religious salience) through permissive attitudes. Conclusion: Religiosity could be a relevant factor to explain sexual initiation during adolescence., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Calatrava, Beltramo, Osorio, Rodríguez-González, De Irala and Lopez-del Burgo.)

This cross-sectional study assesses the association between age of sexual initiation during adolescence and a selection of well-being outcomes regarding that first relationship. High-school adolescents from El Salvador (2,686) and from Peru (3,399) replied to a paper-pencil questionnaire. Those who were sexually initiated replied to several questions regarding their age at sexual initiation, condom use, satisfaction and reasons/circumstances for that sexual relationship. Approximately 19% of participants were sexually initiated ( n = 1,179). After retaining participants with valid responses and with sexual initiation ages between 13 and 17, the final sample for this paper consisted of 996 sexually initiated participants (526 Salvadorians and 470 Peruvians). Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that those who initiated sex at earlier ages had worse outcomes compared to those who initiated at older ages. Specifically, they had lower odds of having used a condom, of having good memories of that experience and of having had that first relationship because they were in love. Conversely, they had higher odds of having had that first sexual relationship as a result of peer pressure ("Most of my friends already had sex"), because of partner pressure ("I was afraid to lose him/her," "My partner told me he/she would leave me" or "I did not know how to say no to a person who insisted"), or as a consequence of different forms of impaired autonomy ("I was under the influence of alcohol or drugs" or "As a consequence of seeing sexual images"). Results show that sex at earlier ages is associated with worse adolescent health and well-being outcomes.