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In Ghana, few studies on early sexual debut have focused on adolescents. Therefore, this study examined the prevalence, causes, correlates and effects of early sexual debut among children aged 8 to 17 in Ghana using secondary data from the Department of Children of the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A convergent parallel mixed-method approach guided the study. Descriptive statistics and multivariable binary logistic regression were used to analyse the quantitative data, while thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study found that the prevalence of early sexual debut among children was 13.2%, which is more predominant among female children. The main causes of early sexual debut include engaging in sex after watching pornography, self-desire to have sex, and being influenced by alcohol consumption. Also, age, sex, education, marital status, religion, ecological zone, living arrangements, and access to the Internet were significant correlates of early sexual debut. Early sexual debut increases children\u2019s risk of unwanted pregnancy, which leads to the termination of children\u2019s education or induced abortion. Also, early sexual debut had adverse impacts on the wellbeing of pregnant children and increased children\u2019s risk of multiple lifetime sexual partners.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study demonstrated that socio-demographic characteristics of children (e.g., age, sex, education, and marital status) were significant correlates of early sexual debut. Policymakers need to design appropriate interventions, considering the socio-demographic characteristics of children, to curb its occurrence in Ghana.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12978-024-01775-4","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,23]],"date-time":"2024-03-23T04:01:44Z","timestamp":1711166504000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["\u201cYou cannot stay with one person once you begin having sex at a young age\u201d: the prevalence, correlates and effects of early sexual debut among children in Ghana"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9794-8524","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Frank","family":"Kyei-Arthur","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2268-4856","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Martin Wiredu","family":"Agyekum","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3058-5831","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sylvester","family":"Kyei-Gyamfi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,23]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"1775_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"189","DOI":"10.4103\/nmj.NMJ_100_20","volume":"61","author":"PO Akumiah","year":"2020","unstructured":"Akumiah PO, Suglo JN, Sebire SY. 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The study was conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the Helsinki Declaration. All respondents (children and their parents\/guardians and officials of state agencies) provided written consent to participate in the study. The data acquired was anonymised to protect the children\u2019s privacy, and their rights were protected.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"38"}}