Ritual de iniciação aos comportamentos de risco na adolescência

Introduction: Initiation acts to risk behaviors can be understood as adopted experiences or behaviors that serve to affirm the link of an adolescent to a peer group as a member. Objectives: To identify the age of initiation to risk behaviors and sociodemographic factors associated with early initiation to these practices in adolescent students in Pernambuco State. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out using a sample of 6,264 adolescent students from Pernambuco. The Global School-based Student Health Survey was used as instrument in the study. Results: The initiation age to risk behaviors (consumption of alcohol, cigarettes, and illegal drugs and early sexual activity) was between 14 and 15 years. We observed that the boys initiated their sexual lives earlier than the girls (p<0.001). Conclusions: From a public health perspective, it is essential that programs and policies to encourage healthy habits be created in an attempt to establish preventive practices to avoid involvement in risk behaviors.