Risky Sexual Behavior of Senior Secondary School Students in an Urban Community of Oyo State, South West Nigeria.

BACKGROUND

Young people worldwide are now at increased risk of unsafe sexual behavior; it is thus imperative to understand the determinants of such practices among them.

STUDY

OBJECTIVE

To assess factors associated with Risky Sexual Behavior (RSB) among secondary school students in Nigeria.

METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study was conducted using multistage sampling technique among 375 secondary school students in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. A pretested questionnaire was used for data collection; chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis were done.

RESULT: Overall, 23.0% of the respondents had at least one RSB; students not in steady relationships were 5 times more likely to have RSB ( OR = 4.50, 95% CI [2.66, 7.71]). Also, respondents who had positive attitude toward RSB had 24% increased odds of RSB practice compared with those with negative attitude ( OR = 23.75, 95%CI [2.48, 22.78]).

CONCLUSION

The burden of RSB is high among secondary school students in South West Nigeria. There is urgent need for reprogramming of sex education for the Nigerian secondary school students.