Abstract
Introduction: The substantial changes that occur in adolescence may lead to sexual behaviors that adversely affect their health. We have described sexual patterns in adolescents in various neighborhoods of Yaounde in order to underscore the sexual challenges that they face. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional descriptive study in District number V of Yaounde from August 1st to 31st 2018. To characterize their sexual lives, we surveyed 1800 adolescents between 10 and 19, and analyzed the data using SPSS version 25.0. Results: In our study, 1023 (56.8%) adolescents were female, and 777 (43.2%) were male. Most of the adolescents were between ages 18 and 19 years (25.4%), unmarried (93.1%), had a secondary level of education (81.9%) and lived with their families (87.3%). One-third of the adolescents (30.7%) were sexually active and 41.1% had multiple sexual partners. The average age of coitarche was 15.1 years. Among the females, 17.1% reported one prior pregnancy and 30.8% had one abortion. Most of the sexual encounters were heterosexual (82.6%) and 30.2% regularly used male condoms. 66.0% and 47.7% obtained information about sexuality primarily from social media and mass media, respectively. Conclusion: Sexual encounters in adolescents of District V of Yaounde were premature, mostly heterosexual and often unprotected. The consequences were an increased incidence of early pregnancies and abortions.
Highlights
The substantial changes that occur in adolescence may lead to sexual behaviors that adversely affect their health
We contacted 2200 adolescents, of which 230 did not participate in the study for personal reasons, or parental prohibition. 1970 adolescents filled out the questionnaire but we excluded 170 surveys because they were filled improperly
A total of 1800 adolescents participated in the study, 1023 girls (56.8%) and 777 boys (43.2%)
Summary
The substantial changes that occur in adolescence may lead to sexual behaviors that adversely affect their health. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional descriptive study in District number V of Yaounde from August 1st to 31st 2018 To characterize their sexual lives, we surveyed 1800 adolescents between 10 and 19, and analyzed the data using SPSS version 25.0. Conclusion: Sexual encounters in adolescents of District V of Yaounde were premature, mostly heterosexual and often unprotected. In the US, 6% of adolescents had their 1st sexual encounter before age 13 years [2]. Their lack of experience in human and sexual relations rises their risk of being exposed to circumstances that have adverse consequences on their reproductive health and sexuality [3]. In 2011, 17.9% of adolescents aged 15 - 24 years reported having had an STI [4]. Some consequences of STIs include infertility, ectopic pregnancies, and cervical cancer [5] [6] [7] [8]
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