Assessment of Risky Sexual Behavior among Substance User Adolescents in Adama City, East Showa Zone, Ethiopia, 2012
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Date
2012-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Back ground - Pre-marital sexual behavior among adolescents and youth remain poorly explored topics in Ethiopia. The available evidence in India suggests that between 20 and 30 %of all males and up to 10 % of all females are sexually active during adolescence. Sexual activity is frequently risky. The relationship between substance use and risky sexual behavior is
complicated by the type, frequency, and mode of substance. These sexual high risk behaviors predispose the victims to a number of possible social, economic and psychological consequences.
Objectives - To determine the risky sexual behaviour and its associated factors among substance user adolescents in Adama City.
Method and material – A community based cross sectional exploratory study was used fromMarch – April 2012 at Adam City. Samples of 347 substance user adolescents who fulfilled the inclusion criterias were recruited by convenience sampling technique. Data was collected with a pretested structured self administered questionnaire. The collected data was controlled and cleaned properly for consistency and entered into Epi info version 3.5.1 software and transferred to SPSS version 15.0 for analysis. Multiple logistic regressions were used to predict the outcome variables and control the confounding factors. Finally, results were presented using frequency table.
Results - The prevalence of risky sexual behavior among substance user adolescents of Adama City is found to be 75.1% for the sexually active participants. The use of substances like: Khat usage (AOR = 1.51), alcohol usage (AOR = 12.24), tobacco usage (AOR = 10.68), and illicit substance usage (AOR = 5.88) respectively were found to be significantly associated with having risky sexual behavior. Because of the risky sexual behavior they suffered from unwanted pregnancy 88.2%, abortion 88.2% of the total pregnancies, immediate outcomes of abortion like: psychological stress 73.3%, physical problems 40%, social stigma 33.3%, and STI 26.7%.
Conclusions - The prevalence of risky sexual contact is found to be higher. Alcoholic use & illegal substances are among the leading causes for this. The study has also revealed that the substance user adolescents are suffering from various immediate physical, psychological, and financial problems related to the risky sexual behavior.
Recommendations – The use of substances by adolescents should be tried to be minimized. The local police administration should work in diverse to make these substances less accessible to the adolescents particularly on illicit substances. School directors and families should also work together on the IEC activities particularly on the education and communication component to
increase adolescents understanding and to promote their change of behavior on the use of substances and risky sexual behavior. IEC activities should be broadly provided by different stockholders who work on adolescent reproductive health.
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Keywords
Sexual Behavior,Adolescents