Age at first sexual intercourse in Italy: A geographical approach

Using data from the "Survey on Sexual Behaviour of Italian Students - USS", we investigate the behaviour of Italian students at first sexual intercourse, focusing, in particular, on geographical patterns and employing event-history models. For both genders, we found significant spatial differentials. The geography of women's attitude towards their first sexual intercourse does not seem to be affected by their social and cultural background; this however is not the case for men, for whom the geographical dynamics are explained by background characteristics. Finally, we present a comparison between the results found in the above data set and the Italian Fertility Family Survey (FFS) andfind striking similarities between the two.