Prevalence, associated factors and consequences of Premarital sex among preparatory school students In jimma town, oromia region, south west ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Premarital sexual practice increases adolescents risk for infection with HIV and other STIs. Adolescents who begin early sexual activity are more likely to have high-risk sex or multiple partners and are less likely to use condom. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence, associated factors and consequences of premarital sex among preparatory school students in Jimma town. Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted on a random sample of 532 preparatory school students in Jimma town from March 13-25, 2015 and data was collected using self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used, mean and standard deviation for continuous variables and frequency for categorical variables. Logistic regression with 95% confidence intervals was used to determine independent predictors of premarital sexual practice and p-value less than 0.05 was to declare statistical significance. Results: Of; 523 study participants, 21.0% (63.6% males and 36.4% females) reported having practiced premarital sexual intercourse. The mean age at first sexual intercourse was 16.3 with SD of (±1.7) and 17.2 with SD of (±1.1) years for males and females, respectively. Being age ≥18 [AOR(95% Cl)=3.8(1.6, 9.2)], living away from parent [AOR(95% Cl)=6.6(1.9, 23.7)], khat chewing [AOR(95% Cl) =9.8(3.5, 27.6)], peer pressure [AOR(95% Cl)=3.1(1.3, 7.5)] and being dissatisfied with parental connection[AOR(95% Cl)= 3.3(1.1, 9.9)] were significantly associated with premarital sexual practice. Conclusions and recommendations: From this, we concluded that there is a high prevalence of premarital sexual practices among students. Age less than eighty year, living away from parent, khat chewing, peer pressure and being less connected with parent were significantly associated with premarital sexual practice. Therefore, Intervention that emphasizes different domains of the high risk factors [substance abuse like khat, peer pressure] and protective factors [increase student-parent connection] in an integrated manner may be the most effective strategies