“Understanding the changes in your body through sex education” among secondary school students in Kofai Ward, Jalingo, Taraba State

Abstract

Introduction: This study was prompted by the eagerness of adolescents to gain information concerning the physical and physiological changes they observe in their bodies and aimed to help adolescents understand these changes. Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted among students in Kofai Government Secondary School in Jalingo between February 2021 and November 2021. Two hundred thirty-three students were selected by stratified and simple random techniques. Data were collected using a self-structured questionnaire and analyzed using the special package for social sciences (SPSS) 23.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago II, USA). Results: The results obtained were summarized by frequencies and percentages. The demographic characteristics revealed that male students comprised 51.5% of the respondents, while female students comprised 48.5%. Students within the age range of 16-20 formed more than half (52.8%) of the respondents. Additionally, 53.2%, that is, more than half of the respondents, were in junior secondary school. The students had a high (more than 80%) understanding of the changes that take place in their bodies. A moderate (< 80%) understanding of `what sexual intercourse is' was also revealed in the results, in addition to a high (> 90%) understanding of their sexual emotions/feelings. Conclusion: It is therefore recommended that sex education be made a compulsory subject so that the concept of sexuality will be explored fully and to enable students/adolescents to obtain accurate and current information.