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The paper is constructed around the experience of first sexual intercourse, which represents the entrance of an individual into the adult sexual life. Some recent studies revealed that age at the beginning of the sexual life has decreased in Romania among the younger generations, compared to the older ones, this reality being accompanied by the progressive separation, during the last 16 years, between the sexual initiation and the context of marriage. The purpose of the paper is to take a look at the moment of first sexual intercourse across 10 cohorts of Romanian women, aged 18 to 84 years, belonging to a representative national sample. The paper provides a short analysis of the socio-demographic factors that are supposed to influence the onset of sexual life (place of residence, historical region, education, and religion). Our hypothesis is that the socio-demographic features of women can explain the differences regarding the age at first sex and the use of contraception at the very beginning of sexual life. After a short review of the main issues of the socio-economic background related to the field of sexuality in Romania, we continue with an examination of the age at first intercourse among the 10 studied cohorts, as well as of its relationship with the socio-demographic characteristics mentioned above. Following a similar pattern, the last section of the paper gives attention at the contraceptive behaviour of the Romanian women at their first sexual intercourse.
Keywords: first sexual intercourse, marriage, socio-demographic factors
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