College of Health Sciences

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Browsing College of Health Sciences by Subject "Adolescent"

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    Assessing Parental influence on Adolescent Sexual Behaviour in the Bantama-Metro
    ( June, 2019.) Fiagbey, Josephine;
    Introduction According to the WHO, the term adolescence is defined as a period of life between 10-19 years. It is a unique period of age characterized by significant physical, cognitive, emotional and social changes. Parents-adolescent’s influence is vital for the outright growth and development in all aspects including sexual and reproductive health of adolescence. However, parents-adolescence communication on sexual issues, supervision and monitoring and provision of basic needs are sometimes lacked. This behavior most often results in a larger proportion of adolescents engaging in unhealthy or risky sexual behavior. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess the influence of parents in adolescent sexual behavior. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 adolescents aged 10-19 years in the Bantama metropolis. A structured questionnaire was used to assess socio-demographics of respondents, sources of information regarding reproductive health, parental roles, adolescent’s knowledge on sexual and reproductive health and sexual behavior. Simple random sample was employed to select participants. Data in the questionnaires was coded and entered using MS Excel Version 2016 for windows and then exported to Stata Version 14.0 for analysis. The mean, standard deviation, percentages and cross tabulations were used for the descriptive analysis. Results A total of 400 adolescence aged 10-19 participated in the study. There was high knowledge on condom use 269 (67.25%) and adolescents main source of information on sexual and reproductive health were from peers, 105 (26.25%). Academics issues are the most issues discussed with parents by adolescents, (52.50%) whilst sexual and reproductive health issues are the least issues discussed with parents, (3.75%). The study found that, more than half 247 (61.75%) had never had sex before, out of the respondents who have had sex, majority 81 (52.94%) had had sex for the last six months and condom was the most common 50 (76.54%) . Most 62 (76.54%) had had sex with only one person whiles 8 (9.88%) had had sex with three or more persons. Conclusion Poor parental relationship with their children in matters related to sexual and reproductive health as they enter adolescent were high in this study. Adolescence knowledge on emergency contraceptives, birth control pills were low compared to knowledge on condom use, abortion services and STIs including HIV/AIDS. Adoption of behavioral change strategies such as family gathering, real lifestyle experience story-telling that would enable them have cordial relationships with their adolescent children Health facilities should intensify their education on long lasting family planning services and emergency contraceptive pills for adolescents. Comprehensive health education about sexual and reproductive health should be infused into the school curriculum to enable adolescents have adequate knowledge on sexual issues.