BMC Public Health 2008, 8:136 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/8/136 Table 1: (Continued) Condom efficacy Condom access HIV prevention knowledge Gender attitude Sexuality communication • Health workers Do you agree or disagree with the following statements: Scale • Male condoms protect against unplanned pregnancy • Male condoms protect against the virus that causes AIDS • Male condoms protect against diseases that are transmitted through sexual intercourse • Would you say male condoms are affordable? Scale • Do you agree or disagree that male condoms are easy to obtain? • From which places or persons do you know of where you can obtain male condoms? What can a person do to avoid getting the virus that causes AIDS? Scale • Staying with one faithful uninfected partner • Using condoms every time • Abstaining from sex • Delaying the onset of sexual intercourse • Avoiding sex with commercial sex workers • Reducing number of sexual partners • Avoiding sex with people who have many sexual partners • Avoid sharing of sharp objects like needles, razors Is a husband justified in beating his wife in the following situations? Scale • if she neglects the children • if she argues with him • if she goes out without telling husband • if the food is not ready on time • if he feels she is unfaithful • if she refuses sex with husband How comfortable or uncomfortable would you feel talking about Scale sexual matters to the following? • father • mother • brother • sisters • teachers • religious leaders *Measure as used in the analysis, and not necessarily the form in the original dataset individuals among our study population, the median age of sexual debut was slightly but not significantly lower for males (15 years) compared to females (16 years) (Mann- Whitney U test: p = 0.383). Analysis of the data of the 2,070 never-married adoles- cents showed no gender difference with respect to sexual debut before age 16 (males 9.0%; females 9.1%; X2 = 0.168 df = 2, p = 0.682). However, for older adolescents, females were statistically more likely to report sexual expe- rience than males (13.0% vs. 9.0%; p < 0.001). Bivariate analyses Males Significant differences were found between the sexually experienced and abstinent groups with regards to English language literacy (p < 0.001), use of alcohol (p < 0.001), attitude toward premarital sex (p < 0.001), radio exposure (p = 0.002), television exposure (p = 0.006) and region (p < 0.001) (Table 4a). Significant differences were also obtained when males with no formal education were compared separately with those that had primary school (p = 0.009) and secondary/higher education groups (p < 0.001). Similarly, statistically significant difference obtained between primary school and secondary/higher educational group (p < 0.001). Compared to the low eco- nomic group, male adolescents in the middle (p = 0.019) and the high economic (p = 0.002) groups were signifi- cantly more likely to report ever having had sex. No statis- tical difference, however, was observed between the middle and high groups. Sexually experienced males recorded statistically higher scores compared to abstinent males on the following scales: FP access (p < 0.001), FP attitudes (p < 0.001), con- dom norm (p < 0.001), condom efficacy (p < 0.001), con- dom access (p < 0.001) and sexuality communication (p = 0.008). Comparing males with history of early and later sexual debut only literacy in English language (p = 0.010) and alcohol use (p = 0.004) differentiated the two groups. Page 5 of 14 (page number not for citation purposes)