the paper discusses factors associated with sexual risk behaviour,i.e. failure to use condoms consistently during sexual intercourse,among unmarried sexually experienced youths in south africa. datafrom the ‘transitions to adulthood in the context of aids in southafrica’ surveys of 1999 and 2001 were analysed to identify factorsassociated with high sexual risk behaviour among the youth. themultinomial regression models for male and female youths were fittedseparately for the 1999 and 2001 data sets. the results showincreasingly consistent use of condoms during sexual intercourse andthat high sexual risk behaviour among youths is predominantlydetermined by social factors such as ‘ever-pregnant’ or ‘ever madepregnant’, ‘ever given something for sex’, age of sexual partner,currently in school, pressured by friends to have sex, peerinfluence on safe sex and education level for males. there isevidence that availability of contraception information is importantin strategic interventions that seek to change the sexual behaviourof the youth in south africa.