A Primeira Relação Sexual, o Primeiro Casamento e o ... - UFMG

xABSTRACTThis work presents a study about the sexual and reproductive behavior of whiteand negro (black + brown) females, from 20 to 29 years-old and 50 to 59 years-old,with different educational levels, in the city of Belo Horizonte, state capital of MinasGerais, Brazil. It is carried out in two correlated stages. First, it consists of acomparative analysis of first sexual intercourse, first marriage, and first childbirthamong females at different ages and race/skin color. Second, it investigates norms, andvalues related to sexual and reproductive behavior, observing similarities and contrastsamong females of different age cohorts, race/skin color and educational levels. Thisstudy has two main goals. The first one is to verify the existence of differences in thesexual, nuptial and reproductive behaviors of white and negro women from 20 to 29years-old and from 50 to 59 years-old in Belo Horizonte, focusing on the age of firstsexual intercourse, first marriage and birth of the first child. The second one is to verifythe differences in the norms and values related to the sexual, nuptial and reproductivebehaviors when women from 20-24 years-old and from 50 to 59 years-old, fromdifferent educational levels are compared.The data used in the present study come from the survey “Saúde Reprodutiva,Sexualidade e Raça/Cor” (SRSR), conducted by the Centro de Desenvolvimento ePlanejamento Regional (Cedeplar) in 2000, and from seventeen focus groups meetingscarried out by the author in Belo Horizonte in 2003 and 2004. SRSR data analysisprovides basic descriptive information about the selected sample and also yields theparity progression ratios (PPR) and the survival curves via Kaplan-Meier estimates.Log-rank tests are used to compare these curves. Finally, by using the SRSR data,females’s parity at ages of 19 and 24 are calculated.The qualitative analysis is based on focus groups meetings with females of the samerace/skin color, age cohort, and educational level. The analysis reveals values andbehavioral differences among the generations of females included in the study. Forexample, although the majority of the youngest cohorts values virginity until marriage,actually it does not happen. Another example of contradiction among norms andbehaviors can be found in the groups with low educational level. In these groups, thefirst childbirth occurs during the teenager years, despite the norm spread by the majoritythat the proper age to have the first child is after 20 years-old. The qualitative analysis