Stealthing among university students: associated factors

Abstract

Objective: To identify the practice of stealthing among university students and the associations between the profile of these young people and this practice. Method: Cross-sectional study carried out at a university campus in a city in the countryside of Sao Paulo. Data collection was carried out online by RedCap between May and September 2018, through questionnaires with identification data, sociodemographic characteristics and sexual and reproductive health. Data were analyzed by IBM-SPSS, version 17.0. Results: A total of 380 students participated in the study, aged between 18 and 24 years old, most of them unpaid students, coming from private education, not having a religion and being single. Most of them were biologically female and identified as cisgender and heterosexual women. As for stealthing, 1.33% of the participants had performed it and 11.44% had already undergone this practice. There was a significant association between having been stealthed and the variables female biological sex (p = 0.000) and identifying as a woman (p = 0.000). Conclusion: The occurrence of stealthing is higher among those who have been stealthed than among those who have done it and having been stealthed is associated with being female and identifying as a woman.