Early sexual initiation and risky sexual practices among alcohol- and tobacco-using young adults in Taiwan: mediation analysis of preceding-sex use of illicit drugs

Table 5 Causal mediation analysis examining illicit drug use right before sex as a potential mediator between early sexual initiation and risky sexual practices among alcohol- and tobacco-using young adults in Taipei metropolitan area recruited using RDS during 2007–2010 (N = 916)

Exposure (E)	Mediating variable (M)	Outcome variable (Y)	Direct effect	Indirect effect	Total effect	Indirect/Total (%)^a
Early sexual initiation	Illicit drug use right before sex	Multiple sexual partners	1.61 (1.15–2.21)^b	1.10 (1.03–1.23)^b	1.77 (1.24–2.41)^b	16.7
		Casual sex	1.35 (1.08–1.67)^b	1.07 (1.03–1.15)^b	1.44 (1.17–1.77)^b	18.6
		Group sex	2.41 (1.23–4.87)^b	1.19 (1.04–1.49)^b	2.86 (1.46–5.37)^b	16.6
		Rare condom use	1.33 (0.92–1.85)	0.99 (0.94–1.02)	1.31 (0.91–1.81)	−3.72

^a Calculated on the natural log-scale
^bStatistically significant based on bootstrap 95% confidence intervals (in parenthesis)
(1) All models controlled for male gender, age, education < college, employment, living with marital or romantic partner, and homosexual/bisexual experience, (2) Poisson regression was used for the outcome regression model (E and M predicting Y) for multiple sexual partners, casual sex, and rare condom use due to nonrare outcomes (prevalence > 10%). Logistic regression was used for group sex (prevalence < 10%)

ISSN: 1471-2458