Author(s): Bikila Soboka, Gemechu Kejela
Background: Youth fertility regulation and pregnancy prevention are among the major health care challenges of the 21st century in developing and developed countries. Unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are the main consequences of adolescent risky sexual behavior. There is inadequate information among adolescents and youths about their reproductive health especially in developing countries. Objective: The main aim of this study is to assessing risky sexual behaviors and associated factors among Arba Minch University students. Methods: Institution based quantitative cross-sectional study was carried out among 427 randomly selected Arba Minch University undergraduate students from May 29 to 30, 2014 using self-administered questionnaire. Data was entered using EPI data version 3.02 and analysed by using SPSS version 16.0. To ascertain the association between dependent and independent variables, binary logistic regression was performed and variables with p-value of less than or equal to 0.25 at binary were entered into multivariable logistic regression analysis. Hosmer-lemeshow goodness-of-fit with stepwise (backward elimination) was used to test for model fitness. Variables with p-value of <0.05 at multivariable regression were considered as statistically significant. Finally, the result was summarized using text and tables. Results: Among 404 participants, 127 (31.4%) reported having at least one risky sexual behavior in their lifetime. Risky sexual behavior was high among respondents who were engaged in non-health field of study (AOR [95%CI] = 2.87[1.86-4.3]), who were rural residents before joining the campus (AOR [95%CI] = 1.57[1.03-2.4]) and who didn’t discuss sexual issues with their parents (AOR [95%CI] = 1.98[1.29-3.03]). In addition, risky sexual behavior was higher among respondents who use khat (OR [95%CI] =2.8[4.59 -17.63]), who drink alcohol (OR [95%CI] = 3.94[15.4-62.16]) and who smoke cigarette (OR [95%CI] =2.2[7.92-66.71]). Conclusion and recommendations: The prevalence of risky sexual behavior among Arba Minch university students was high (31.4%). Therefore, university should incorporate health education to its curricula to prevent students from developing risky sexual behaviors and factors associated to it like, substance abuse and its consequences.
