Magnitude And Factors Associated With Sexual Debut Among In-School Adolescents In Asella Town, Arsi Zone, Oromia Regional State, Southeast Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Sexual activities among adolescents have been reported to be increasing worldwide. Over the past decade, adolescent sexual and reproductive health concerns have increasingly been on national agendas. Sexual debut on this period exposes adolescents to various risks such as unprotected sex, early pregnancy and STIs/HIV/AIDS. The aim of this study is to assess the magnitude and factors associated with sexual debut among inschool adolescents in Asella town, Arsi Zone, Oromia Regional State, Southeast Ethiopia. Methods: A school based cross-sectional study with qualitative and quantitative data collections method was employed on a total of 362 students of randomly selected from four schools of Asella town from May 30 to June 20 2012 using simple random sampling. Sexual debut is the dependent variable and demographic, socio-economic and knowledge are independent variables. The quantitative data were collected using structured selfadministered questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS version 16.0 through bi-variate and multi-variable analysis and qualitative data were gained using in depth interview with students and analyzed thematically. Results: Three hundred sixty high school adolescents participated in the study. One hundred nine (30.3%) of the participants had sexual debut at the time of the survey, of which 210 (58.3%) were males. While age greater than 18 years AOR 2.7 (1.5, 5.1), living apart from parents so that renting alone AOR 2.2 (1.0, 4.7), pushed by a friend to smoke AOR 4.0 (1.5, 16.1) and have sex 4.5 (2.1, 9.2), spending spare time with boy/girl friend AOR 7.5 (2.3, 24.0) and watching pornography AOR 2.9 (1.2, 6.5) were positively associated with sexual debut in the study area. Being female gender AOR 0.54 (0.29, 0.99), avoiding use of substances like alcohol AOR 0.26 (0.07, 0.92) and cigarette AOR 0.19 (0.09, 0.46), intention to delay sexual practice and communicating with fathers about sexual matters AOR 0.35 (0.13, 0.94) was found to be protective against sexual debut. Conclusion: One hundred nine (30.3%) of the respondents experienced sexual intercourse which might predispose them to different sexual and reproductive health problems. Increasing awareness about sexual and reproductive health problems by strengthening youth friendly services and using IEC/BCC materials is recommended.