The Motivations of Youth Involvement in Transactional Sexual Relationship in a South African University

Abstract

The phenomenon of transactional sexual relationship among youth in sub-Saharan Africa especially at Universities in South Africa is becoming rampant these days. What really lure youth into engaging themselves in this act needed to be identified. However, not many researches have been undertaken on this issue, especially regarding the perceptions of youths about this phenomenon. Thus this research provided some preliminary findings on the factors that motivate youth to engage in transactional sexual relationship at the University of Zululand. Proportionate stratified sampling where respondents were chosen from each of the four faculties at the University of Zululand to reflect all the faculties at the University was used. This was complemented by the use of direct observation method. Findings: that youth engage in Transactional sexual relationship because they were motivated by expensive gifts (jewelries, cell phones, laptops, hairdos etc), peer pressure, money, modernization, poverty, and parental poverty.