Premarital sexual experience of married women in Kinshasa, Zaire

Using responses from questions about age at first sexual intercourse and age at first marriage, this paper offers a method of studying premarital sexual behaviour in societies where the subject is a taboo topic. More than half of the currently married women in Kinshasa engaged in sexual intercourse before marriage. The likelihood of having premarital intercourse increases among younger women, those with higher education, and those whose ethnic groups have liberal attitudes towards sexual conduct. The results also suggest that sexual activity accounts for late marriage.