Abstract:
Introduction: According to WHO; youth are young people within 15-24 years old. Studies reported that more than half of all new HIV infections occur in people between the ages of 15 and 24 years. Identifying risky sexual behaviors and associated factors among this group of youth is critical to design sound intervention. However limited studies acknowledge the differential vulnerability of high school students for risky sexual behavior in Ethiopia. Therefore this study aims to investigate risky sexual behaviors and associated factors among high school students in Gondar city administration.
Objective: To assess the prevalence of risky sexual behaviors and associated factors among high school students in Gondar city administration.
Methods: Institution based quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted from March 23/2015 to march 26/ 2015 among high school students in Gondar city administration. Multistage sampling technique was employed to recruit study participants and Data was collected using structured self-administered questionnaire, and entered using epiinfo version 7 and imported to SPSS version 21 for analysis. Descriptive statistics like frequency, proportion and mean were computed to describe important variables in relation to the outcome variable, and Binary and multivariable logistic regression were used to identify independent predictors
Results: The overall prevalence of risky sexual behavior was 12.8%%. Ever used alcohol ((AOR, 3.53 95% CI (1.73-7.19)), had no parental monitor (AOR, 12.21 95% CI (6.55-22.78), watching pornographic film (AOR, 2.24 95% CI (1.15-4.35), had parental discussion on SRH issues (AOR, 2.57 95% CI (1.36-4.85) and peer pressure (AOR, 2.50, 95%CI (1.20-5.21), were factors which significantly increases the odds of risky sexual behavior among youth
Conclusion and recommendations: Risky sexual behaviors among high school students in Gondar city administration was very high and worrisome so that a concerted effort is needed from parents, school, health facility and policy makers to bring accepting attitude for condom use.
