Parent-adolescent communication on sexual and reproductive health among school adolescents of Woldia town, Ethiopia by the year 2019

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the magnitude of parent-adolescent communication on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues and its association with gender and premarital sexual practice among school adolescents of Woldia town.Design/methodology/approachSchool-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 368 unmarried secondary and preparatory school adolescents (15–19 years) in Woldia town. Simple random sampling was employed to select study participants. Self-administered questionnaire was used. Data were entered by EPI-Data version 3.0.2 and analyzed by using SPSS version 20.FindingsIn this study, 56.3% of school adolescents had parental communication on sexual and reproductive health issues. The result of this study showed that adolescents who had history of sexual intercourse where 64% less likely to communicate with parents on sexual and reproductive health issues (AOR: 0.36 95% CI: 0.20, 0.65), but there was no association between gender and sexual and reproductive health communication between adolescent and parent (AOR: 1.06, 95% CI: 0.64, 1.75).Originality/valueParent-adolescent communication about sexual matters is one of the means that encourages adolescents to adopt responsible sexual behavior. Many children in Africa are uncomfortable to have a communication about sexual and reproductive health issues with their parents because the subject is a taboo topic in most homes.