Adolescents Health and Management of Sexual Risk Taking Behaviour among Selected Secondary School Students in Osun State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The study aimed at assessing adolescents health and management of sexual risk-taking behaviorus among selected Senior Secondary School Students in Osun State, Nigeria. A sample of 810 students was selected through multistage sampling technique. A self-designed instrument was used to collect data from the respondents. Apart from the face validity of the instrument, its reliability was determine through the pilot study carried out among 20 Senior Secondary School Students of the Seventh-day Adventist School, Ife, it yielded test retest reliability of 0.82:

Data collected were analyzed using descriptive analysis of percentages. The results showed that majority of respondents (74.1%) were between 13-15 years while 7.4% were between ages 19 and 21: 58.9% respondents were Christians, 31.4% Muslims 4.8% traditional religion and 4.9% of respondents did not respond. Majority of respondents (735) 90.8% were not sure of what sexual and reproductive health was all about, while only 24.7 (200) agreed that reproductive health deals with both male and female organs. 25.8% of respondents said they willingly had their first sexual experience, 19.4% said they were persuaded to do it, 14.1% were forced to do it and 0.6% were not sure of how they had the experience. High percentage (52.4% of the respondents took no precautionary measure in their first sexual intercourse. Majority of the sexually active respondents (65.9%) said they over heard or currently experience some signs of STDs such as gonorrhea, syphilis and PID. Similarly, some of these respondents (24.7%) managed these conditions through self medications by buying drugs from the chemists while 26.9% went to hospital for treatment. It was concluded that opportunity should be created through awareness campaign for adolescents to develop awareness on their sexuality.

Key words Adolescent, Health management, sexual risk-taking, behaviours, secondary school students