Abstract:
Background: Risky sexual behavior has been worsened by college students living on their rental
houses, lack of facilities for sexual and reproductive health services and coupled with khat chewing.
However, association between khat chewing and risky sexual behavior is not well studied among
college students.
Objective: To assess the magnitude of khat chewing, magnitude and associated factors of risky
sexual behavior among college students in Arba Minch town 2015.
Methods: Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted. The sample size 1211 was
determined by Epi Info V.7.1 using the formula of two population proportion and simple random
sampling technique was employed to select the respondents. Data were collected on March 11,
2015 by using structured self administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS V.20. Binary
logistic regression was used to see the associations between dependent and independent variables.
Result: The prevalence of life time and current khat chewing was 19.2% and 16.8% respectively.
Life time and current prevalence of risky sexual behavior was 40.8% and 36.5% respectively. The
prevalence of life time risky sexual behavior among khat chewer was 82.2% and significantly
higher than non chewer 30.9% (P-value=0.001). Similarly, current risky sexual behavior among
khat chewer was 74.2%, significantly higher than non chewer 27.6% (p-value=0.001). Male sex
(AOR=1.82; 95% CI: (1.28- 2.6), Previous urban residents (AOR=1.63; 95% CI: 1.17- 2.28), age
increase by one year (AOR=1.18; 95%CI: 1.09-1.28), living away from family (AOR= 2.45 95%
CI=1.62- 3.7), having high peer pressure (AOR=2.58; 95%CI: 1.85- 3.59), average grade increase
by one (AOR 0.98; 95% CI: 0.96-0.99), regular attending religious institution (AOR =0.24; 95%CI:
12- 0.42), watched pornographic movies (AOR=2.51 95% CI=1.79- 3.51), khat chewing (AOR=
3.02, 95% CI: 1.91-4.76), alcohol drinking (AOR=2.26, 95% CI=1.54- 3.35) were factors associated
with risky sexual behavior.
Conclusion: Considerable proportion of students engaged in khat chewing and risky sexual
behavior. Risky sexual behavior among khat chewers was significantly higher as compared to non
chewers. Age, sex resident, living arrangement, peer pressure, academic performance, religiosity,
watching movies, khat chewing & alcohol drinking were associated factors of risky sexual
behavior. Colleges and local health bodies should work together to address the identified risky
behaviors.
