Health risk behaviors and sexual initiation among in-school adolescents in rural communities in southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Adolescents exhibit numerous risky sexual behaviors leading to initiation of sexual intercourse not mindful of the many consequences. To determine the prevalence and pattern of sexual risky behavior and its association with sexual initiation. This was a school-based descriptive cross-sectional study among 377 in-school adolescents, who were selected using multistage sampling methods. Research instruments were semistructured self-administered questionnaires. The mean age of respondents was 15.7 (+1.8) years. Most of the respondents claimed to have heard about sex education at one time or another. About 53 (14.1%) had their first sexual experience before or at the age of 15 years. The mean age of the first sexual experience for males was 14 years 3 months and 15 years 3 months for females. Fourteen (3.7%) had no fixed sexual partner; most of the sexually active respondents did not use a condom during their last intercourse. Only 7.7% of the respondents reported to have had a sexually transmitted infection. Most of the 207 female respondents (85.5%) had never been pregnant while 88.9% of those who had been pregnant had an abortion. Females were about 1.5 times more likely to have had first sexual intercourse before the age of 15 years, though the observed likelihood was not statistically significant [odd ratio (OR) = 0.7, 95%; confidence interval (CI) = 0.3-1.5; p = 0.642]. Likewise, males were 1.7 times more likely to have used condoms at the last sexual intercourse, and the observed likelihood was not statistically significant (OR = 1.7; 95% CI = 0.8-3.4; p = 0.079). In this study, adolescents were sexually active with negative consequences on their reproductive health. Stakeholders involved in the care of adolescents should take the consequences into consideration.