Prevalence of high risk sexual behaviour in adolescents attending school in a county in Nova Scotia.

High school students ina county in Nova Scotia were asked about sexual activity, including high risk practices. Fifty-five per cent had had intercourse, including 82% of those 18 and 19 years of age. Being sexually active was associated with poorer school performance, having parents with less than a university education, being female, and living with other than both parents. Forty per cent of sexually active students had more than one partner in the year before the survey. Thirty-five per cent always used condoms for vaginal intercourse. Students having regular intercourse used condoms less, but less frequent condom use was not associated with having fewer sexually partners. Twenty per cent of sexually active students engaged in anal intercourse; 18% of females and 35% of males reporting this practice used condoms for all sexual encounters. Students in this high school population are highly sexually active, and report high risk sexual activities at levels which should be of concern to both public health practitioners and educators.