This study examines the associations of gender roles and sexual power with the sexual wellbeing of Mexican adolescents. Particularly we look at the role played by adolescent’s attitudes toward gender roles and sexual power regarding three aspects of their sexual well-being: satisfaction with one’s sex life; consistent condom use; and the refusal of unwanted sexual contact with one’s partner. Methods: we used logistic regression models to analyze possible associations between attitudes toward gender roles, and sexual power, with the sexual well-being of adolescents, using a random and representative sample of 4,738 sexually active teenagers from three Mexican states. Results: egalitarian attitudes are positively associated to high sexual satisfaction for female adolescents, whereas for males they favor the refusal of unwanted sex. Sexual power shows significant associations with consistent condom use for both males and females, and it also significantly increases the likelihood of high sexual satisfaction and refusal of unwanted sex among females. Conclusions: the findings suggest the relevance of overcoming traditional sex roles to achieve adolescent sexual well-being. In this sense, health and population policies should direct more substantial efforts in the promotion of gender equality among the adolescents and in the development of critical attitudes towards traditional gender norms.
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La titularidad de los derechos patrimoniales de esta obra pertenece a la World Association for Sexual Health. Su uso se rige por una licencia Creative Commons BY 4.0 Internacional, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.es, fecha de asignación de la licencia 2021-09-01, para un uso diferente consultar al responsable jurídico del repositorio por medio del correo electrónico repositorio@crim.unam.mx