Premarital Sexual Practice and Risky Sexual Behaviors Associated with it among Secondary School Adolescents, South East Ethiopia: A Mixed Design Study

Background: Adolescence is the journey of transition from childhood to adulthood at which mental, emotional, social and psychosexual development occurs. Early initiation to sexual intercourse without having proper protection has been one of the concerns. Previous studies in Ethiopia indicated significant numbers of adolescents are sexually active and only about 40% of them reported consistent use of condom which exposes them to various form of reproductive health risk. Therefore the main aim of this study was to assess premarital sexual practices and sexual and reproductive health risks associated with it among secondary school adolescents. Methods: School based cross-sectional study design supported by qualitative survey was used. A total of 702 study participant was selected by multi stage sampling technique. Structured questionnaire and focus group discussion were used to collect the data. Finally data were entered using Epi info version 7 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Result: The Magnitude of premarital sexual practice was 136 (20.6%) from which 99 (72.8%) were males. Mean age at first sexual initiation was found to be 15.5. Being male (AOR [95% CI] =4.60[2.25, 9.67]), having pocket money (AOR [95% CI] =2.86 [1.45, 5.63]), watching pornographic movies (AOR [95% CI] = 2.82 [1.30, 6.13]), and drinking alcohol (AOR [95% CI] = 1.99 [1.01, 3.91]) were found to have association with premarital sexual practice. Conclusion: The study reflected the prevalence of pre-marital sexual practices was high. Therefore there should be control over local cinemas, movie renting shops and groceries to decrease exposure of adolescents for pornographic movies and alcohols. Citation: Endalew D, Gebremichael B, Tesfa M, Asmamaw T (2018) Premarital Sexual Practice and Risky Sexual Behaviors Associated with it among Secondary School Adolescents, South East Ethiopia: A Mixed Design Study. J AIDS Clin Res 9: 775. doi: 10.4172/2155-6113.1000775