Social Media Usage, Sexual Behavior and Risk Perception Among Adolescents’ of Some Private High Schools in Addis Ababa.
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Date
2014-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The major purpose of this study was to assess the relationships among adolescents’ Social media
usage, sexual behavior and risk perception. A descriptive survey was employed as a study
design. Questionnaire was used to gather data from a random sample of 300 (150 male and 150
female) students of grade 9 th through 12 th in the selected five private high schools of Bole sub-
city. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square, t-test, ANOVA and correlations were used to analyze
quantitative data. Descriptive statistics revealed that entertainment, communication with people
far away and making companionship (34.3%, 20% & 16%) were the major reasons to school
adolescents’ social media usage respectively. Weak positive correlation was found between
social media usage and sexual behavior [r (298) = .222, P < .05]. However, sexual behavior
was moderately correlated with the frequency use of social media sites used [r (298) = .694, P=
<0.05]. Descriptive statistics found that the majority (61.3%) of the respondents had high risk
perception while 30.7% of the respondents had low risk perception to social media usage. When
looking in to the conclusion, adolescents’ sexual behavior in relation to social media usage by
default had weak positive correlation. However, their sexual behavior was moderately
correlated with the frequency use of social media sites. Hence, among the practical
recommendations forwarded, School administrators and teachers should plan and advise school
students to use social media sites for educational issues than entertainment, or for
companionship. Also, school students should be aware that using social media sites frequently
boost to enter sexual behavior
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Keywords
Private high schools in addis ababa